Like other big contenders in college athletics, Utah State University is frantic to get the cash it needs to stay competitive under the new revenue-sharing model. But it won’t be allowed to do so by significantly hiking up student fees.

The Utah Board of Higher Education rejected the northern Utah school’s proposal Friday to increase the athletic fee each student pays by 25.8%, or an additional $59.44 per student annually.

In total, that would have meant each USU student paying $290 each year just in sports fees. That’s on top of the growing cost of tuition, now just more than $9,000 annually for the average student.

The board called it “unsustainable.”

“All of this is just band-aids. It’s band-aids on a gushing wound,” said board member Steve Neeleman, a USU alumnus who played football during his time there. “Sorry to be so graphic … but we’re going to be back here every single year having this same conversation unless we fix this model.”

[Read more: College tuition prices are going up in Utah. Here’s a list of planned increases.]

University President Brad Mortensen pitched the hike as a one-time deal that he intended to revisit and possibly lower next year. That’s because the school needs a quick financial infusion now to navigate the increasingly complex funding landscape and more changes as USU moves into the Pac-12 conference this fall, he said.

The school was going to study other ways to come up with more money over the next year, he added, including through fundraising, increased ticket and concession prices and sponsorships. It may also rent out its arena and stadium for concerts.

“Give us a year to figure that out,” he asked.

But the board directed Mortensen to pull those levers now. The school already collects about $5 million annually from its athletics fee, and members didn’t want more costs pushed onto students.

They approved a much smaller increase, at $9.91 more (or 4.3%) each year, for a total of $247.47 per student. In sports and other fees combined, a USU student will now pay $793.10 annually as of this fall.

USU’s sports are funded differently than most, which Mortensen said is part of the problem. It’s not as prominent as the University of Utah, and northern Utah isn’t as flush with wealthy, supportive donors.

To keep the athletics department running, the school ends up providing a large subsidy. That amounted to more than $20 million in fiscal 2023, according to the most recent report from the Office of the State Auditor.

Public records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune also showed the president’s office, under previous school leader Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, gave an additional $2.9 million in 2024 from a discretionary account — sourced by investment earnings — to keep athletics afloat.

For fiscal 2023, USU spent more than $51 million on athletics. All of its programs, including football, ran at a deficit then. For most universities, football tends to raise more and helps support the other teams financially. Overall, with school subsidies, it ended the year with only about $400,000 in the black.

Meanwhile, the athletics department overall reported a total debt of $44.5 million, largely from bonds, including for upgrades to its football stadium and basketball arena. As a whole, the school has $403.9 million in debt, the auditor’s report noted, again largely attributable to bonds for buildings,

“You know, we don’t have a lot of reserves. We don’t have that financial fund just ready to go,” said previous USU Athletic Director Diana Sabau in 2024, when revenue sharing was first being discussed; Sabau left the school last year.

Will students now be charged to attend games?

All schools that want to compete — and win — in the NCAA have been scrambling for more sources of money in the face the new revenue-sharing agreement with athletes, which came after the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement that went into effect last July.

Under that, schools are now on the hook to share up to $20.5 million with their athletes.

Other institutions have turned to student fees to make up for the new expense.

The University of South Carolina went that route, bumping the athletics costs for students by $300 per year for all undergraduate students. That’s on top of $172 annually that students there also pay to get tickets, according to Greenville News.

At USU, the athletics fee covers the costs of student tickets, so students don’t pay per game. Mortensen said about 63% of students attend at least one basketball or football game throughout the year, and for the smaller, more geographically isolated school, that involvement is a unifying force.

“It was a lot of fun for all for us to win a Mountain West championship and go to the NCAA tournament and win a game,” Mortensen said.

That notable upset against Villanova came in the first round of the NCAA March Madness Tournament before USU then fell to Arizona in the second round.

Mortensen said the school will now consider, in addition to other options, having students pay a ticket price to attend a game.

USU Board of Trustees chair Tessa White said that will likely change the dynamics of how many students attend. But she also understands “we need to do a pretty big transformation with athletics.”

Neeleman said he doesn’t feel like the NCAA “has not done its job” in helping with the growing costs and demands on college athletics. The model, he added, is broken.

“I wish we could come up with a better solution long term to make these programs sustainable financially,” he said.

Comparing the University of Utah’s unique plan

The board compared USU’s proposal to other schools’ plans as it continues to explore introducing more oversight over student athletics.

At the University of Utah, for instance, a student pays $165.38 in athletics fees each year out of $1,085.59 in annual fees total. The U. did not ask to increase its sports fees this year. In fact, the school reduced overall fees by $23.89, with students paying less for campus computer access.

The U. is instead moving forward with a unique plan to solve its budget shortfall caused by revenue sharing.

The school created a spinoff for-profit company, Utah Brand Initiatives LLC, that will be in charge of the roughly $100 million generated in athletics revenue each year (before expenses).

That company will then be backed by a private equity firm, Otro Capital, which is expected to raise up to $500 million in revenue by handling operations such as ticket sales, media, stadium events, concessions and trademark-and-licensing matters.

In fiscal 2024, the U.’s athletic department had a $17 million deficit, largely related to the school’s Pac-12 exit and entrance into the Big 12 conference. It recorded a $1.8 million profit in fiscal 2023 and a $3.8 million profit in fiscal 2022.