A San Diego State committee has recommended that university president Adela de la Torre institute a 41% increase to mandatory student athletic fees that are already among the highest in the nation. The recommendation was buried on the university’s website late Monday afternoon – from the budget and finance home page, you need to click on four links to find it – and was not accompanied by any formal announcement. It was finalized at last Friday’s 39-minute Zoom meeting of the Campus Fee Advisory Committee that was not open to the public, media or the students who would ultimately pay the $820 annual fee required for enrollment. The meeting minutes said the recommendation was approved by a 15-2 vote, although it did not specify how each committee member voted. De la Torre is widely expected to rubber-stamp the recommendation, since it was her office that initiated the “alternative consultation” process for the fee hike instead of a student vote. That process involves the CFAC soliciting student feedback through a series of campus presentations, then formulating a recommendation. The only student referendum on raising athletic fees at SDSU came in 2004. It was rejected, but then-president Stephen Weber imposed them anyway. All subsequent increases to what is called the Instructionally Related Activities (IRA) fee have come via alternative consultation. Unlike a yes or no student referendum, the alternative consultation process allows the committee to make adjustments to the initial proposal, and it did to the fee’s amount, schedule and distribution percentages. More money will go to areas like club sports and adaptive sports, plus some to student media. And the fee hike will be phased in over four years, increasing by $60 per semester in the first two, $90 per semester in the third and $120 per semester in the fourth. Students currently pay $290 per semester, or $580 per year. The ultimate total of $820 per year amounts to a 41% increase. In a 2024-25 athletics budget posted on the university’s website, student fees were the single largest revenue source at $16.3 million. According to the College Athletics Database, which collects mandatory financial filings from 240 public institutions, SDSU’s student fee contribution was the 21st highest nationally for the 2024 fiscal year. The College Athletics Database also shows a $29.1 million deficit by SDSU’s athletic department in 2024 and some of Division I’s highest debt at $282 million – presumably from building Snapdragon Stadium – despite not having access to the television riches of a power conference. Raising student fees are one way to close that gap, although the athletic department likely won’t get as much as it wanted. The original proposal was for a 45% bump, or $130 per semester more, starting next fall, with 95% of the money going to the athletic department. Under the committee’s amended recommendation, that means about $15 million less over the next four years for athletics, which will receive just under 90% of the new fee. “If the fee does not pass,” a FAQ section in the alternative consultation documents says, “the university will face significant challenges in sustaining and enhancing the athletics experience for students and student-athletes. Without a stable funding source, programs will continue to rely heavily on limited and unpredictable state allocations, which have not kept pace with rising costs. “Competitiveness of SDSU’s athletics programs could decline, putting the university at a disadvantage compared to schools that have already invested through student fees.” According to the College Athletics Database, SDSU already ranked No. 1 in student fee contribution in the Mountain West by a wide margin in 2024. San Jose State was second at $9.4 million. No one else was over $6 million. If the recommendation is approved by de la Torre, the SDSU student fee contribution will ultimately increase to about $25 million per year. ...read more read less