Free tuition initiative fails after 6K attendance not met
Currently NIU athletics expects fans to remain in the stands for the season at 100% capacity, the rise in Delta variant cases puts everything on the table for spectators. The Northern Star is committed to providing fans updates as they become available.
February 4, 2016
NIU Athletics’ Mission 6 initiative proved unsuccessful as no student was eligible for the free tuition prize.
Mission 6 debuted for the 2015 football season with the goal to have at least 6,000 NIU students at each of the Huskies’ six home football games. Students who attended every game and stayed for the whole game were eligible to win free tuition for the spring 2016 semester, according to the NIU Alumni Association website.
No student was eligible for the tuition waiver, even if they attended each home game, because the requirement for student attendance to reach 6,000 at each home game was not reached, said Morris White, assistant athletic director for Marketing and Game Experience.
White said student attendance numbers were not calculated until after the season.
“The promotion would have been more successful had our students met the requirements of the initiative … . The decision was made by the students because essentially the criteria wasn’t met,” White said.
The average overall attendance for the six home games was 13,942 with lowest attendance reaching 9,755, on Nov. 24 against Ohio University, according to the NIU Athletics website.
The inspiration for Mission 6 stemmed from attendance from the 2014 football season, White said.
“I feel like they found a loophole and they should award the students that actually went,” said senior journalism major, Jazmin Kelley. “They should uphold their part of the bargain.”
Students were able to record their attendance by swiping their card at football games and checking into the Red-Black Rewards app.
The Red-Black Rewards app received a rating of one star on the Google Play website.
Athletics purchased the app and is in a three-year contract with the developer SuperFanU, according to a Jan. 19 Northern Star article.
White said the tuition waiver came from the marketing budget and had nothing to do with state funding. It has not been determined if they will do the initiative again.
“Having 6,000 students come to a game isn’t asking too much,” White said.
