How much funding does your roller team get from your college?

[Rhyno]

My college (Emory) has its annual club sports budget distribution meeting coming up and I was just wondering how much funding other roller hockey teams in the NCRHA get from their schools. We get like $8,500 per season from the university and have a $150 membership fee per player. Also, how often does your team practice? We practice once a week for about 2 hours and then participate in one or two local house league games per week.

[cdolan]

pretty much nothin. meramec communtiy college

[dmj171]

penn state can only "afford" to give us 1,800.00....with a school of over 40,000.

[bakerg81]

That 1,800 is actually fairly generous considering that Penn State has over 700 clubs and club sports.

Our player fee is 400 bucks and we practice once a week, sometimes twice for 2 hours at a time. We also play in one house league game per week.

On top of that, we pull in about 4,000 bucks per year from profits from our IM leagues.

Just thought I'd clarify PSU's situation since my not so esteemed colleague Dave Jaszcar didn't give any specifics.

[Army Defense]

this is the first year our school gave us any money.. we made off with $22000, but it took alot of muscle flexing and volunteering for additional duties

[William Bourque]

$5,100

League Fees + $400

[RustyPipes27]

Who's Dave Jaszcar? Never heard of him. Is he on your B team?

[dmj171]

i miss you so much vensel

[islanderfan]

We receive no funding from the University, however this past year we received $4,500.00 from the student activity fee fund. The rest is covered by the players (hotel, van rental, equipment, rink rent, etc).

Jerry Remsbecker
KSU Roller Hockey Club
Faculty Adviser & Coach

[missionhockey19]

$0.00 dollars

[STLtour8510]

Lindenwood Univ.--- A Whole Lot

[Duquesne12]

$000,000.00

[sostrow]

University at Buffalo
This year we received the most we've ever been given.
$3,000 per semester given up front.
Also because they know we always request more they put $2,000 extra away for us for emergencies. Also given up front.
We ended up getting $8,000 to pay for the $9,500 in combined fees between ECRHA and NCRHA. Everything else comes out of pocket from the players. We charge $250 per semester to full time players and charge separately for alternates.

[tambo6]

Towson University fields two teams or more. The Sport Club Organization has a budget of $255,000 - one of the largest Sport Clubs budgets across the nation. Roller Hockey currently receives an estimated $50,000 - $60,000 for the year, depending on how much travel the club plans throughout the season.

Back in 2002-2003, the club only received $3,000 for the year. The dedication, leadership and organization of several individuals within the club caused the increases to occur. Each year the club has displayed extreme examples of dedication, leadership, fundraising and community service. This, along with the success the teams have had on the hockey rink, has allowed the club to grow and receive the funding we do today. The club did not begin with such a budget. It was earned. The leaders of the club, myself included, had a vision and did everything we possibly could to achieve our goals.

What most clubs do not realize is that there are several "little things" that can make a huge difference when it comes to receiving more recognition and more funding. For example, Towson issued a dress code for its players back in 2002-2003. The shirt and tie policy followed in 2003-2004. When we were in Anaheim for Nationals that season, our sportsmanship and professionalism was recognized by a Sport Clubs representative of Cal Poly Slo. This individual then contacted our Sport Club staff and expressed his/her appreciation. I was personally notified by our Campus Recreation Director, that this "little thing" (a dress code) and act of professionalism, definitely contributes to a higher budget for the club.

This is just one example of many. I'm sharing this with you because I would like to see Collegiate Roller Hockey grow. In order for it to grow, the teams will obviously need larger budgets in the future. Towson Roller Hockey is well aware of how fortunate we are to have the budget we have. But, it was not like that in the beginning. Once again, we earned it, and so could other clubs at other schools. It may not ever be close to a budget that we have, but progress can be made if the dedication and leadership is there.

I give several teams a tremendous amount of credit for going through the season on such low budgets. I don't know how some of you do it.

I would be happy to talk to anyone who is interested in ways to better their program.

[BCampbell]

Rit - $1,100

[PMoyer3]

Cal Poly SLO received around $5,000 this year but nothing the past few years. Members pay between $300 and $400 per year. We fundraise around $10,000 every year to help pay for practice time and league dues. All travel expenses are paid by the players.

[danpugh]

Cal Poly SLO received around $5,000 this year but nothing the past few years. Members pay between $300 and $400 per year. We fundraise around $10,000 every year to help pay for practice time and league dues. All travel expenses are paid by the players.

Just curious, how do you fundraise that amount?


Also, Drexel- about 29,000 for 4 teams (2 local, 2 ncrha)

[DGlass]

Not sure about this year but Pitt has received upwards of $50,000.

Pitt receives their funding through the Allocations Committee of the Student Government Board. The club issues their budget request in the spring of the previous year (Spring '06 for the 2006-2007 season). We sit in meetings with the Allocations Committee and the SGB and go line by line through our budget detailing our needs. Last time I was involved, a $100/semester Student Activity fee is levied against every student (~30,000 students * $200/year = $6 million) to fund all the student clubs and organizations at the school (including fraternities and sororities).

Pitt's Roller Hockey Club has had as many as 250 members participating on 2 ECRHA teams, 2 Western PA college league teams, and a 10-team club-managed IM league. Additionally, fundraisers and community service have helped prove the club's dedication.

Key points:
- Organize your club. Force freshmen and sophomores to get involved and run the club early, keep the leadership process revolving.
- Build a steady relationship with whichever office funds your
club sports. Get to know the process and the people involved.
- Extra steps: Dress code, minimum GPA (tried once, not enforced unfortunately), community service, fundraisers, alumni involvement, coach's involvement, required enrollment in a phys. ed. class -- all help legitimize your club.
- On-rink success. The hardest to attain. If your team performs well, you are more likely to receive additional help from the school.
- Pursue non-financial aid. Seek out an professor that likes hockey, maybe they will coach you AND bring more money from their department. Maybe you have an eccentric sports-loving alum with billions to blow (Mark Cuban...oh yeah, sorry, he went to Pitt...). Contact your athletic dept. and see if they can get you equipment deals.

[PMoyer3]

The first fundraiser can be done by ANY team in the NCRHA:
1. We do a letter drive fundraiser soliciting friends, family, and businesses. It is basically a newsletter that talks about the team with our success and current need of financial assistance. We also include incentives for donating money to the team in this letter. i.e. if you donate $50 we'll send you a t-shirt, if you donate $500 we'll send you a jersey, etc.

We mandate that everyone of the 36 members in our program submit 5 addresses of someone they think would likely donate to the program. We get an average of $50 from each address.(some donate significantly more and some donate less). just doing the math and we are already at $9000. (now we have done this for 4 years and have had pretty consistant results + or - $1500)
TIPS: The key with this is to send it out in the Fall before the end of the tax year because the donations are tax deductible. We will tend to get large single donations from local businesses or the businesses of player's parents. Also, make sure it looks professional and/or on official university letterhead. Make sure to follow up with thank you letters so that they will be encouraged to donate again next year. (A lot of our donations come from the same people every year.)

2. Our second fundraiser is reffing a Fraternity foot hockey league in the spring for $25 per game usually this makes us around $800. We provide low quality sticks and some old goalie gear. (This is probably the most entertaining $800 I have ever earned. I reffed every single game last year because it was so funny watching these guys play a sport they knew nothing about.)
This one might not apply to many schools but we just proposed it to our Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC)to include Hockey as one of their Spring competitions to crown the IFC sports champion. This also ensures participation by many fraternities because not participating will lose them athletic points that are added up to crown the champion.

[tadams97]

Millersville gets anywhere from 10-15 grand per year. Like someone posted here earlier you have to play your cards right. I built a very strong relationship with our Club Sports Advisor and made sure he was aware of every fundraiser we did, how all our events played out, where we traveled, what other teams were there, etc. To back up what the Towson guy said doing small things can go a long way. My freshman year we made Nationals in Anaheim and this little kids (brother and sister) on the airplane out there were talkin to some teammates and I. Turns out they loved us and talked their parents into coming from San Diego on business to come watch some of the National Tournament. Long story short the guy wrote this huge letter to the school and personally talked to our Advisor saying how classy our team was and how awesome the National Tournament was. So since then every year he brings that story up and compares it to our ice hockey team (who doesn't have the best relationship) Anyway it takes a lot of effort to build a relationship but I hope that it isn't for nothing and eventually NCRHA will be taken more seriously.....

[CRadigan]

Truman State's Funds Allotment Committee has a cap of $5000 for clubs/club sports, and we usually receive close to that for our two teams (that is, $5000 total). It almost covers our league fees. We've got an on-campus rink and most of our guys live in St. Louis, so there's no practice or travel costs. I think that this year we all had to pay ~$75 each for league fees.

[KSiordia66]

$0.00 but hey its the thought that counts

[RUsigs11]

Rutgers gets approximately $9,000 for 2 ECRHA teams and 1 C team (approximately 40 club members). Each player pays roughly $250 in club dues for the season (not including uniforms).

In our first year, we only received $1,000 to start the club. The rest of our expenses were covered by fundraising and out-of-pocket.

As Tambo points out, the school did recognize our fundraising efforts and our exceptional club strutcure (in comparison to other RU club sports), as well as the overall growth of the club. These factors led to a large increase in our funding over the past 4 years.

[Duquesne12]

i would literally soil myself if Duquesne ever shelled out 4 figures... We did get like $800 as a club for nationals last year, which covered gas and tolls and maybe a little hotel. Every year we meet with them, every year they tell us there just aren't enough funds

[DGlass]

I might be preaching to the choir on this, but when you meet with your schools:

- Wear dress clothes. Suits and ties if possible. Make sure everyone in attendance on your behalf is dressed accordingly.

- Get as many people from your club (as well as supporters) to attend the meeting and stay in the back and be quiet. If the meeting place is confined, be sure that you have a contingent of people immediately outside the meeting area and be sure that your school representatives are aware they are outside. If you have a coach, get them too.

- Try and get fans and supporters (real fans and real supporters) to attend the meeting as well. Again, dressed to impress.

- If you, or someone on your team, is close to a professor or advisor, ask that person to help you with a presentation or even to attend the meeting with you. Support by a faculty member can go a long way.

- If a league official (BOD member, Commissioner, referee) is willing and able, see if they might come out to your school and attend a meeting. Make sure they are properly briefed on your school's policies regarding club/organizational funding.

- If there is another school/club in your area that is well-organized, see if a rep will help you organize a presentation or even sit in on the meeting.

- If they still deny, ask what you can do to get additional funding. Ask to see a list of what all the other clubs and organizations receive and constructively ask why they receive the funds they do.

DON'T EXPECT MIRACLES. It's very possible none of the above will help, but the more professional you appear and the more tangible reasons you give for needing the funds, the more likely your school is to help you out. The key is to not act like they should just give it to you. Rather, you need to prove to them that allocating money to your club will be beneficial to the current students as well as to the University/College in general. Do you have any proof that the fact there is a roller hockey team contributed to any players choosing your school? Do you know of current high school seniors who are considering your school, PARTIALLY on the fact there is a roller hockey club?


I would be more than willing to meet, or speak to clubs who are looking for pointers in requesting funds. PM me if you would like to speak and we will arrange something.


Once, at a Pittsburgh SGB meeting, the entire men's and women's swim teams showed up in their warm-ups to represent some random swimming/diving club. It was quite a site to see.

[alex]

Of you guys who have said your schools receive at least a few thousand dollars, how many of your schools received that sort of money in your first year? Did it take several years to build up to that level?

[sanford]

i believe that neumann started in like 2001, give or take a year. last year was the first year we got alot. if you are going to nats this year get receipts for everthing that your team pays for. after nats add it all up and use this when you ask for money. we did this in colorado and last year we got a bus, entry fee and 2000 dollars for meals. this year i was told that the whole trip is paid for. so they are getting money for hotels, airfair, meals, and rental cars.

It also helps to win alot at a school that never wins anything and conistantly having enough intrest to feild 4 teams.

[DGlass]

In 2001-2002, Pitt received ~$10,000. I forget the exact numbers. By 2004-2005, we received >$35,000. Again, the numbers vary because of the way I was able to order/pay and organize things.