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NIC to restructure Athletics to achieve sustainability

North Idaho College announced Wednesday, Dec. 4, that it will be restructuring its Athletics program because its current financial trajectory is unsustainable. The NIC men’s and women’s Golf program will be eliminated after Spring Semester 2025 as part of cost-saving measures. This has the potential to effect 11 student athletes who could have returned to compete next year.

“NIC will honor tuition, fees, and room and board for golf student-athletes who choose to remain enrolled at NIC through the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters, but Golf will no longer be offered as a sport here,” said NIC Interim Provost Lloyd Duman. NIC Athletics is under the purview of the Office of the Provost.

NIC spent about $4 million more on Athletics in the current fiscal year 2024-2025 than it did in 2023-2024. The increase is due, in part, to costs associated with moving Athletics from the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) to the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), a member of National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). When the board took subsequent action to include full tuition for international and out-of-state students, room, board, books, and a flight home, it ballooned the Athletics budget from $2.2 million to $6.2 million.

Eliminating the Golf program will result in expense savings of about $600,000.

Duman said there are no plans to eliminate any additional athletic programs. Other cost-cutting measures will be necessary in the future to establish a sustainable budget for the Athletic program, but none that will affect athletics this year.

“Golf is a sport that has relatively high costs per student. Also, due to Title IX, there has to be gender equity when eliminating a sport and Golf has both men’s and women’s teams,” Duman said, adding that Golf was the most recent addition to NIC Athletics out of all its teams. “This was an extremely difficult decision – it does not reflect on the quality of the program or people involved in any way. It was made so as to affect the least number of student-athletes and employees as possible.”

At the November NIC Board of Trustees meeting, the board directed NIC President Nick Swayne to work with Athletics leadership and take actions necessary to contain costs.

“Coach Russell Grove should be commended for the work he’s done. His golf teams have excelled and they should be proud of their accomplishments. I know I am,” Swayne said. “It’s extremely unfortunate, but we have run out of options.”

On Oct. 31, a team from the college’s accrediting agency, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, released a report on whether NIC should remain on a “Show Cause” sanction or improve to a lesser sanction of probation. Show Cause is the last status before having accreditation revoked. Revoked accreditation for a college would result in it not receiving any federal funding (including scholarships) and none of its credits transferring.

The Oct. 31 report indicated the only issues that still existed were related to board governance, board behavior, and financial risk because of the increase to the Athletics budget.

According to the report: “In addition to its impacts on participatory governance, the decision placed a multi-million-dollar burden on NIC’s budget and a substantial hidden tax on NIC’s academic and student support services.”

“At its September 27, 2023, meeting, the board authorized NIC to meet NJCAA’s ‘full-fare’ cost of participation, covering tuition, books, housing (including meals), and one round-trip flight home, regardless of residency. Estimated at $40,000 per athlete, that commitment would grow NIC’s athletics budget from $2.2 million to $6.2 million, a $4 million increase,” according to the report.

The report serves as information for the NWCCU, which will decide in January whether NIC remains on Show Cause accreditation status or improves to a lesser sanction.

“Yes, restructuring Athletics is a part of accreditation. But, it’s also necessary if the college is to have a future. The college could not continue to operate at the rate it’s been going,” Duman said.

Federal regulations require that the college resolve all remaining accreditation issues by April 2025. The full report and accreditation key points can be found at nic.edu/keypoints/.