NIU’s athletic department budget, as detailed in Thursday’s Northern Star, may appear to be somewhat larger than the average for state schools, but exact numbers are hard to come by.

Complicating any budget comparisons is the widely differing range of items included in different athletic department budgets.

NIU’s FY90 budget projection for $2,652,190 does not include salaries. Salaries for administrative positions within intercollegiate athletics at NIU for 1989-90 totalled slightly more than $1,400,000. That amount includes coaches salaries, but not all support positions and salaries that fall under civil service, such as the salaries in NIU’s sports information department.

Including the aforementioned partial list of athletic department salaries, NIU’s athletic budget totals over $4,055,000.

By comparison, The University of Illinois-Chicago’s athletic budget totals $3,500,000 including salaries. With an enrollment of 24,000 and a program of 15 sports, UIC approaches NIU in size. NIU’s enrollment is slightly over 24,000 and the budget covers 16 Division I sports.

Western Illinois University, with an enrollment of 13,250 and a program of 18 sports, has an athletic department budget of $3,000,000 including salaries.

The single biggest source of the athletic department’s income comes from athletic fees included in student’s tuition. For FY91, $1,936,500 of the $2,554,761 in total revenues comes from NIU students. NIU’s Fee Study Committee recently requested an increase in the athletic fee portion of student’s tuition to $108.24 from the current $99.36 to meet rising costs.

The developmental account portion of the budget that included requests for “hotel sweats,” “coaches shoes,” and key chains comes from money derived from fund raising, Associate Athletic Director Keith Hackett said. The items listed were not necessarily purchased, only requested, Hackett added.