In the aftermath of considerable budget cuts coming from North Carolina lawmakers, resulting in N.C. State cutting about 15 percent of its budget, the athletics will have some hard decisions to make in the future.

Students are already aware of how the cuts affect their wallets due to the increases in tuition and fees, which in part have funded the recent renovations throughout campus.

Aside from those visible costs that push the price of a four-year education, the athletics program has also contributed to the financial punch, with a projected operation budget of roughly $55 million for the upcoming academic year.

This has been increasing since the days of the Lee Fowler era where N.C. State athletics operated at around $40 million – second to last in the ACC. The Wolfpack Club is also a major contributor to State athletics, with donations totaling around $27 million in 2009.

Even though this was great when looked at from the perspective of how many thousands of dollars students and parents have to dispense, State fans were definitely not pleased with the mediocre performance of the athletics program as a whole.

Athletics Director Debbie Yow said she believes it takes money to build a winning program in collegiate athletics, which was the practice she put in placed during her tenure at the University of Maryland at College Par. Under her leadership, the athletics program won 20 total national championships. In 2009, UM operated on an estimated budget of $61 million, which was the highest in the ACC.

With these proposed increases in the athletics budget, the money does have to come from somewhere. Last year, Yow proposed an increase in student fees for athletic costs, and it is more than likely that this will happen again.

“We’re probably going to ask for a student [fees] increase, but we don’t know how much,” Yow said. “It’s an interesting dynamic. When the campus raises tuition that’s an expense for two groups, it’s revenue for everyone else. It’s an expense for students and for athletics because we pay our scholarships for our student athletes. So we’re getting hit. Every time the tuition goes up we’re getting a new and larger