Stress test: Colleges facing virus expense
Schools already hit by budget shortfalls
Coastal Carolina already had one of the smaller athletic budgets in the Football Bowlsubdivision,andthat was before a 15 percent spending cut was ordered because of projected declines in state funding and student fees stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
Facing the prospect of having to pay for testing of returning athletes and staff forthevirusthissummer, athletic director Matt Hogue went to work finding a way to defray costs. His 19-sport program includes about 450 athletes, and with individual tests currently costing about $100, testing could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars by the end of the 2020-21 academic year.
Hoguefoundhelpfrom a local health care company — a longtime sponsor of Coastal Carolina athletics — that will provide free tests, at least while athletes are coming back to campus this summer.
“Someofthetoolsand tactics you have to employ because you are at an institution where you have to watch your dollars, that already may have you prepared to see some solutions you might not if you’re at a school that can just simply write a check,” Hogue said. “We have to be creative.”
Athletic departments can’t always count on their insurance carriers or those of the athletes’ families to pay for testing. According to federal guidance issued June 23, insurers are required to cover individuals who show symptoms or have been exposed to someone who is symptomatic; so-called surveillance testing is not part of the mandate.
A few hours’ drive from Coastal Carolina, East Carolina is dealing with managing the cost of testing and safety protocols amid financial problems that led the American Athletic Conference school to cut four varsity sports in May. Athletic director Jon Gilbert said the school has already budgeted $100,000 for coronavirus expenses that include testing and supplies such as masks; he expects to exceed that amount and said some schools could end up spending $500,000, depending on the number of cases.
“It is extremely challenging because of the unknown,” Gilbert said. “And the unknown is: We can bring a team back in August when school starts, and we can test them and everybody be negative — but as soon as they leave their bubble and they go into the general population, then we’re all vulnerable to being infected.”
Nebraska’s $140 million budget in 2019-20 is more than five times greater than Coastal Carolina’s $25.5 million. The Cornhuskers’ 24-sport program has about 600 athletes and is one of a handful that makes money. Though a 10 percent budget cut was announced recently, the program is able to absorb the cost of testing, in part because of its affiliation with the university’s medical school.
Athletic director Bill Moos and Hogue both said following best practices for testing, as recommended by NCAA and conference medical experts, is the only option when dealing with the health of athletes.