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Coastal Carolina University is disputing data and claims that their students pay more to subsidize athletics compared to almost all other schools.
A post published on X, formerly known as Twitter, March 1, 2024 claimed that CCU students paid $3,634 in athletic subsidies during the 2023 fiscal year, the most in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision.
CCU students paid more athletic subsidies than all of their Sun Belt Conference counterparts, according to the post. The data also showed that CCU students paid almost $500 more for athletics than the school with the second-highest student subsidy, South Alabama.
ATHLETIC SUBSIDY PER STUDENT
New FY23 per SporticoHow much does EVERY STUDENT pay to subsidize the athletic dept?
If you’re paying college tuition, this is a chart you won’t like: Here’s how much money each kid is paying towards subsidizing the athletic dept. at FBS… pic.twitter.com/bUaVd2ZC2g
— Tony Altimore (@TJAltimore) March 1, 2024
The post, published by Strategy Consultant and Managing Director at Altimore Collins & Company Tony Altimore, also generated a response from Coastal Carolina, who claim the report is incorrect. CCU Director of Communication Jerry Rashid refuted Altimore’s findings, writing that the university calculated the athletic subsidy to be $2,090.
“The University has evaluated the information in the social media post, and we are unable to replicate the provided data,” Rashid wrote in an email to The Sun News. “Without a more thorough understanding of the calculations used to formulate the data in the social media post, we are unable to comment on the numbers provided.”
While the exact figure is in dispute, what is not is that Coastal Carolina students pay a lot for athletics. Based on Altimore’s initial report, a $2,090 student athletic subsidy would still be among the highest compared to other schools.
CCU would no longer lead the Sun Belt Conference. Instead, Coastal would be comparable to schools like the University of Alabama Birmingham, Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University, University of Connecticut and Troy, whose students paid athletic subsidies between $2,000-2,400, according to Altimore’s original post.
Altimore’s used data from the Sportico College Sports Finances Database, which obtains data from universities through public records requests.
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