JSU students not likely to see fees increase because of move up to C-USA
Could the recent announcement that Jacksonville State University will be joining Conference USA and the Football Bowl Subdivision mean a higher price tag for students? The message from university officials is “not to worry.”
Currently, the average cost to an incoming JSU freshman, including the requirement for most first-year students to live on campus, is $9,270 a semester. This includes a flat rate General University Fee of $700 per semester that goes toward things such as game tickets that allow students to enter sporting events with the presentation of their Student IDs.
This General University Fee in particular has the most potential to go up because of its nature, but JSU administrators say that will most likely not be the case.
“We know it’s going to cost more money to operate at the FBS level than it did at the FCS level, but the athletic department will have the ability to offset a lot of the additional expenses,” said Public Relations Director Buffy Lockette, on behalf of the university.
She explained that these costs will be offset through increased funding from game guarantees, which the athletic department receives to play a specific team. More funding from playoff revenue, ticket sales and private donations to the university is expected.
Lockette added that the university will be included in the conference television revenue distribution, which means it will be paid for any game that is televised or streamed by C-USA media partners.
The conference has a contract with CBS through the 2022-23 school year, as well as contracts with Stadium and ESPN (most games are streamed on ESPN+).
JSU also is predicting an enhancement to “recruitment efforts by helping build brand awareness nationally” with the new C-USA partnership, thus allowing more chance for increased enrollment, which has been a trend in recent years.
At the start of the fall semester, JSU reported a total enrollment of 9,540, a 3.3% increase from 2020, and saw the largest incoming freshman class (1,818) in its history. It plans a new residence hall at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium, which is set to be complete by fall 2023.
“JSU has experienced enrollment growth over the past few years and we were already expecting this trend to continue before this announcement was made,” said Lockette.
University officials said they’ve heard no concerns from students regarding the move up to C-USA; on the contrary, they seem “excited about the move.”
“Our students have been showing up to games in record numbers to support the Gamecocks, and this gives them even more to cheer about,” Lockette said.
As per NCAA rules, FBS teams must average 15,000 people in actual or paid home attendance to retain that status. The numbers must be met once in a rolling two-year period.
JSU had joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in January, and school officials understand people may have been surprised by the quick move to C-USA. Lockett called it an “unexpected opportunity” that the university “could not pass up.”
“We believe in a few years — once we have had time to settle into C-USA — our students, faculty, staff, alumni and fans will fully understand why we decided to seize this opportunity,” she said. “It’s an exciting time to be a Gamecock.”
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: JSU students not likely to see fees increase because of CUSA transfer
