Powerhouse college sports teams are frequently praised as major revenue drivers and overall boons for schools. But new research shows that the vast majority of athletics programs are bleeding millions of dollars each year. Increasingly, students are footing the bill.
The typical Division I college is spending between $800 and $2,700 per student — partially derived from tuition and fees — to help fund the shaky finances of college athletics, according to a report released Wednesday by the federal Government Accountability Office, or GAO. For a four-year degree, additional costs per student can range as high as $10,400.
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“The general student body of a college contributes to funding athletics programs through both the tuition it pays to the college and the fees the college charges students, which may or may not be specifically labeled as ‘athletics’ fees,” the GAO researchers wrote.
Proponents of college athletics have long argued that major sports teams on campus boost the college’s profile and drive revenue. There’s even a named phenomenon known as the “Flutie effect,” which shows a connection between a college sports team’s success and admission applications to the school.
The GAO report turns that assertion on its head, finding that major sports programs are often money pits that require funding from tuition, fees and other campus revenue sources to maintain. Due to the complexities of college finances, the GAO’s estimate is a cost-per-student analysis rather than a direct measure of what students pay to offset athletics expenses.
“At a time when tuition continues to rise and millions of borrowers are struggling with student loan debt, colleges should be investing in student success — not asking students and taxpayers to subsidize an athletic spending arms race,” Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in a news release Wednesday. He requested the GAO report in his role as chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee.
Of all Division I athletic programs for the 2023-2024 academic year, 94% spent more money than they generated — usually through ticket sales, merchandise, promotions and broadcasting rights — with a median gap of nearly $21 million, according to the GAO. Collectively, Division I schools spent $20.8 billion that year and raised only $13.1 billion.
Tuition and fees could increase
The GAO report found that the spending gap among Division I and II colleges has grown substantially over the past decade, far exceeding inflation. And the issue may already be worse than the report lets on.
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In the 2025-2026 academic year, colleges began paying student athletes directly for their name, image and likeness (NIL), when historically they were not directly paid by their colleges. The financial data the GAO reviewed stopped the year prior, so the new expense was not factored into its findings.
According to separate data published by the nonprofit Knight Foundation, public Division I colleges spent at least $54 million on NIL revenue sharing with student-athletes in 2025, and that number is expected to balloon — by upwards of $21 million per school — in subsequent years. (Pending legislation could potentially double that figure.)
One college athletics group source cited in the GAO report suggested that the new NIL expense could exacerbate the situation.
To be clear, college athletics aren’t the only expense students are covering with additional fees and tuition costs. There are a host of fees tacked on to the typical cost of college. Some are mandatory, such as instruction or lab fees, while others are optional, auxiliary fees — like this $200 fee at Harvard that helps fund a beloved annual concert on campus.
One issue in tracking college costs is that fees and tuition are often sandwiched together, and it’s not clear exactly where the money is going, and what students can opt-out of.
For now, it’s safe to say that everyday students attending a Division I college should expect to pay a premium of potentially thousands of dollars to walk the same halls as the NCAA stars.
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