10 Universities Where Sports are Cash Hogs

(MoneyWatch)  I recently wrote a post that asked this question: Are college bowl games a rip off? Many schools lose huge amounts of money because of the ticket guarantees that bowl game sponsors impose.

During this bowl game season, I wanted to share a practice at Division I-A universities that's even more outrageous. Two universities -- University of Arkansas and University of Alabama -- are spending more on their athletic departments than they are on instruction in their classrooms. Many other schools are spending an alarming chunk of their revenue on sports.

Using data from the Department of Education, the Center for College Affordability & Productivity, a nonprofit, higher-ed research center, calculated the ratios of money spent on college sports versus instruction at the 119 Division 1-A schools.

Schools with the highest percentage of expenditures on athletics versus instruction:

1. University of Arkansas..........56.5%
2. University of Alabama...........50.2%
3. University of Tulsa................48.1%
4. University of Nebraska..........45.9%
5. Texas Christian University.....43.2%
6. Oklahoma University.............41.2%
7. Auburn University.................40.8%
8. University of Mississippi........35.6%
9. Louisiana State University......33.8%
10. Clemson University................33.4%

Schools with the lowest percentage of athletic expenditures versus instruction:

1. Vanderbilt University..............6.4%
2. UCLA......................................7.1%
3. University of Washington........7.3%
4. Stanford University.................7.5%
5. University of Buffalo...............7.6%
6. Duke University.....................7.8%
7. Temple University..................8.0%
8. Rutgers University.................8.6%
9. Brigham Young University.....8.9%
10. Northwestern University........9.0%

I wouldn't want one of my kids attending a school that spends excessively on sports. Would you?

Lynn O'Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller and she also writes a college blog for TheCollegeSolutionBlog.

Further Reading:

How to Pay Your Kid's Tuition With an Athletic Scholarship

University of Arkansas Razorback image by jcizmadi. CC 2.0.