2008 Woodie Awards
UCF loans an unaccounted for $7.4 million to Athletics without a repayment schedule
Nada Taha
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: News
Over the course of several years, UCF has loaned $7.4 million of university revenue to the UCF Athletics Association Inc. and has yet to begin repayment, despite missed deadlines. The loan, according to the Office of the Auditor General, violates Florida Statutes and cannot be accounted for.
Since 2003, the university also transferred $49 million of student athletic fees to the association from money charged to students' tuition at $11.72 per credit hour.
"We send bills to them and they pay the bills. We just use the university as a bank," said Brad Stricklin, assistant athletics director for business and finance. "It's just a cash flow thing for us."
Stricklin said that because revenue for the association wasn't sufficient at the time, the university would hold the athletic fee money, the association would invoice the university and the money would be wired into the association's account.
The problem, audit manager for colleges and universities Ted Sauerbeck said, is that the university never had the authority to make such transactions to a direct-support organization (DSO).
"We wanted to have a more nationally competitive football program, so it was going to cost more money," Stricklin said. "However, the revenue wasn't sufficient to meet the start-up expenses."
At the time the money was being given to and loaned to the association, the UCF football program was in the midst of being revamped and the Bright House Networks Stadium, which cost $55 million, was in its conception phase. None of the money used to build the stadium was taxpayer money, university officials have said.
Requests for budget documents were denied by the Athletics Association and deferred to UCF News and Information. Those documents weren't available before deadline.
"In a nutshell, the university believes it has legal authority to provide funding to its DSO, which is what the athletic association is. We disagree," Sauerbeck said. "The university does not have home rule authority."
Since 2003, the university also transferred $49 million of student athletic fees to the association from money charged to students' tuition at $11.72 per credit hour.
"We send bills to them and they pay the bills. We just use the university as a bank," said Brad Stricklin, assistant athletics director for business and finance. "It's just a cash flow thing for us."
Stricklin said that because revenue for the association wasn't sufficient at the time, the university would hold the athletic fee money, the association would invoice the university and the money would be wired into the association's account.
The problem, audit manager for colleges and universities Ted Sauerbeck said, is that the university never had the authority to make such transactions to a direct-support organization (DSO).
"We wanted to have a more nationally competitive football program, so it was going to cost more money," Stricklin said. "However, the revenue wasn't sufficient to meet the start-up expenses."
At the time the money was being given to and loaned to the association, the UCF football program was in the midst of being revamped and the Bright House Networks Stadium, which cost $55 million, was in its conception phase. None of the money used to build the stadium was taxpayer money, university officials have said.
Requests for budget documents were denied by the Athletics Association and deferred to UCF News and Information. Those documents weren't available before deadline.
"In a nutshell, the university believes it has legal authority to provide funding to its DSO, which is what the athletic association is. We disagree," Sauerbeck said. "The university does not have home rule authority."