Why do we have such limited funds?

[ZooCougar]

The average applicant accepted at Alabama would have a hard time even applying to UConn, whereas the Average UConn applicant would be accepted to Tuscaloosa, sight unseen. Plus, Alabama as a state (On Average) is in the bottom 5 in the Country in education. Plus, aren't some flagship universities in the Midwest and South required to accept state applicants? So not only are the surroundings apples and oranges, the two are drawing from different barrels of apples.

Alabama Qualifications of Enrolled Freshmen
Average GPA 3.66
SAT Math 557 average (490-610 range of middle 50%)
SAT Critical Reading 555 (490-600 range of middle 50%)
SAT Writing 540 (480-600 range of middle 50%)
ACT Composite 27 average (22-31 range of middle 50%)

UCONN Qualifications of Enrolled Freshmen
Average GPA Not reported
SAT Math 634 average (590-690 range of middle 50%
SAT Critical Reading 600 average (560-660 range of middle 50%)
SAT Writing 550-660 range of middle 50%
ACT Composite 26-30 range of middle 50%

Averages don't mean anything here. The most influential donors in Alabama donate to Auburn and Alabama, not Birmingham Southern (small private school).

And not a lot of kids from CT would apply anyways. When I was looking at schools, it was much easier to get into UVA or UNC in state than out of state anyways.

 

[John Greene]

For many here in AL contributing to and rooting for UA or AU has nothing to do with where they went to school. I know a family here that has sent their children to St. Paul's School in Concord, NH followed by Yale for the last three generations. Never the less they still pony up a 6 figure contribution to UA every year and buy their box at Bryant-Denny. The reason? They grew up loving Alabama football.

 

[psilotic]

What do you mean, limited funds? UConn just bet $5 million the football coach would have a good year.

 

[BlueandOG]

For many here in AL contributing to and rooting for UA or AU has nothing to do with where they went to school. I know a family here that has sent their children to St. Paul's School in Concord, NH followed by Yale for the last three generations. Never the less they still pony up a 6 figure contribution to UA every year and buy their box at Bryant-Denny. The reason? They grew up loving Alabama football.

BINGO! My point exactly. If we had a football culture where people grew up watching UCONN football, they would be more willing to donate to support the program. That does not dimish the substandard alumni attention regarding UCONN - they took alums for granted for years. But, UCONN hoops, particularly women's hoops, is big time in CT. If Geno ever retires and they get a crappy coach in there, watch how fast the money comes in to buy out the contract.

 

[BHusky]

The reason UConn cannot pay a $3.5M-$5M buyout is because they don't have the private funds that most other noteworthy P5 schools have. That is alumni donations like many have posted on here about already, but it is also the TV money, advertising, ticket revenue, Nike/UA contracts, coach clinics, big time boosters, etc. Coaches like Saban can be paid $7M a year because Alabama has the private funds to pay for this type of salary without having to take money from other sports.

Charlie Strong is said to be owed $19M in his buyout at Texas and 100% of that money is coming from the athletic departments private fund. The school will not pay a dime of that and hence can just move along without any repercussions.

The South is quite a bit different than the Northeast in regards to college choices. This may be somewhat stereotypical, but southerners tend to go to the school they grew up the biggest fans of whereas kids growing up in the Northeast don't have that college sports passion to steer them to certain schools for the most part. Kids growing up in AL either love Auburn or Alabama and if they cannot get into those schools, you can sure bet they will remain diehard footballs fans of either regardless of what other school they attend. Kids in South Carolina love Clemson or USC. The lack of pro sports impacts that for sure compared to the Northeast and the amount of quality schools in the Northeast also has a big impact.

One other factor that may impact UConn's buyout options that I have not seen discussed are the number of sports the athletic dept funds. We spend alot of sports, but we also have a lot of teams compared to other schools in our league. So is the difference in spend because we have more teams to fund which bring in some added revenue or because we are just willing to spend more? I believe UConn has 22 varsity teams and I see other schools tend to average around 15.

 

[Husky25]

Averages don't mean anything here. The most influential donors in Alabama donate to Auburn and Alabama, not Birmingham Southern (small private school).

And not a lot of kids from CT would apply anyways. When I was looking at schools, it was much easier to get into UVA or UNC in state than out of state anyways.

Not sure you're picking up what I'm putting down. My post was in response to, "... If you grow up in Alabama you dream of going to University of Alabama as they have far fewer Yales, Wesleyans, Trinitys etc in their backyard to choose from."

Not only are their few fewer Yales, Wesleyans, and Trinitys, but the average Alabama high school senior is already behind the 8-ball, academically. At the risk of sounding like a Northeast elitist, it would be no surprise if the average AL HS senior aspired to Alabama because that is the ceiling, as opposed to being a back up state school, which is the historic perception of UConn (FWIW, Auburn actually appears to be on par with UConn in terms of entrance exam score average and range).

I don't understand what you mean by "...And not a lot of kids from CT would apply anyways." I was making a generalization.

 

[Drew]

I work with a lot of UConn grads (teachers) they always talk about getting hit up to donate and their response is "UConn has too much of my money already. " or "that school has so much money they don't need mine." I know people who buy tickets/gear and think that's their contribution. There is a misinterpretation of the school's funds among alumni not just outsiders. They need to get it ingrained in them as students that it is important to donate. I think it's Mizzou that has some catchy slogan and all their alumni contribute 5 dollars a month or something to the endowment. If you have 100,000 living alumni that's $500,000 A MONTH. That's how you build a billion dollar endowment not 2 or 3 big donors.

its Clemson. IPTAY program (I Pay Ten A Year)

 

[ZooCougar]

Not sure you're picking up what I'm putting down. My post was in response to, "... If you grow up in Alabama you dream of going to University of Alabama as they have far fewer Yales, Wesleyans, Trinitys etc in their backyard to choose from."

Not only are their few fewer Yales, Wesleyans, and Trinitys, but the average Alabama high school senior is already behind the 8-ball, academically. At the risk of sounding like a Northeast elitist, it would be no surprise if the average AL HS senior aspired to Alabama because that is the ceiling, as opposed to being a back up state school, which is the historic perception of UConn (FWIW, Auburn actually appears to be on par with UConn in terms of entrance exam score average and range).

I don't understand what you mean by "...And not a lot of kids from CT would apply anyways." I was making a generalization.

That's myopic. No doubt education in Alabama is awful but I think it would still be pretty desireable regardless.

 

[Husky25]

That's myopic. No doubt education in Alabama is awful but I think it would still be pretty desireable regardless.

It is now clear to me that that something got is lost in translation. Unfortunately, I can't address it right now.

 

[ZooCougar]

It is now clear to me that that something got is lost in translation. Unfortunately, I can't address it right now.

Maybe our high SAT scores just indicate that most Nutmeggers are too smart to invest in UConn Football? At what point is it just throwing good money after bad?

 

[JMick]

UConn needs to do a better job with Student/University relations while they're actually at school. I'll never donate a dime after they killed the social life there.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

(Rest of post unquoted for brevity's sake.)

I agree with much of your post, though I do think the times are changing. When I was there, from 2000-2005, a kid I knew in the Comp Sci program was the valedictorian of his school. Smart kid. I went to school with a lot of very smart UConn students in the School of Eng.

These are kids who grew up and couldn't afford schools like Northeastern or Wesleyan, but could afford UConn. And they have good jobs, but they're only in their mid-30's. They have money, but not "buy out a football contract" money.

I do think, however, some of them are bound to make it big. And UConn is only getting harder to get into. While also remaining a very realistic choice for kids who are suddenly thinking about the student debt they're going to be saddled with.

Does this help us now? No. But I think in 20ish years, it may well be that UConn has a lot more big money donors than it used to. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking and we'll all be mildly successful computer engineers tailgating at sad football games. I'm not Nostradamus.

Speaking of the "Engineering School," has anyone contacted this guy for something other than a Commencement Address and bestowing a couple of honors?

Scott Case (business) - Wikipedia

He does a lot of good works with his billions, is a UConn alum and was a pretty good player for one of the best high school football programs in CT. So, even if he might be a little nerdy, football is not a foreign concept.

 

[UConnNick]

And also no oil wells.

It's funny you should mention oil wells. The State of Texas owns millions of acres of mineral rights. Some of those lands are dedicated to the Permanent University Fund. The royalties payable from those rights go 2/3 to UT and 1/3 to A&M. None of the other state supported colleges and universities get a nickel of that money, including UH. It's a huge bone of contention. It's one of the primary reasons why A&M left UT and the B12 to join the SEC.

It gets even worse. Due to conflicting and overlapping jurisdictional and administrative rules, I am aware of a situation where an A&M alum donated some land and mineral rights to the university. When it came time to lease, the Texas General Land Office or A&M each had the authority to lease the minerals. The problem was the GLO signed the lease, so the royalties went into the state's general account, not to the university. The decedent intended for A&M to benefit from the gift and now they'll never see any of that royalty income.

 

[Adios]

UConn is nerd galore now. Don't worry, we'll have a championship by 2050. Or maybe 2100.

 

[shizzle787]

Becuase we have too many sports. UCLA (9) and WVU (8) have less male sports than us.

 

[uconnfan68]

Who do you throw under the bus?

 

[Colt house75]

In answer to the post, we have no endowment because administration prior to 1995 relied on state money.
Fund raising sacked.
I received contact once a year if lucky from 1975 to 1995.
Susan Herbst has been reaching out to us thru the foundation constantly . She in my opinion, brought us into the 21st century . she has been incredible .
The big endowment schools have a 100 year head start on us.
Harvard and Yale have a 250 year head start .