MI Student Aid to Present MHSAA Media
September 1, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Just as the Michigan High School Athletic Association hopes students will pursue the many benefits of taking part in educational athletics, MI Student Aid – a division of the Michigan Department of Treasury – encourages students to pursue postsecondary educational opportunities by providing financial assistance toward attaining that goal.
Sharing in the desire to make Michigan students aware of all possibilities available, MI Student Aid has signed on to work with the MHSAA to present the opportunities provided by both to a statewide audience via the MHSAA’s radio, video, social media and online initiatives.
MI Student Aid – a part of the Student Financial Services Bureau located within the Department of Treasury – encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information, including various student financial assistance programs to help make college more affordable for Michigan students. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 savings programs (MET/MESP) and eight additional aid programs within its Student Scholarships and Grants division.
Among MHSAA broadcast ventures that will be presented by MI Student Aid during the 2016-17 school year are the five-minute “This Week in High School Sports” program that airs on more than 80 radio stations statewide, and the weekly video highlights from Michigan programming produced for the NFHS Network, dispersed to statewide media and published online on the MHSAA Website.
“We value the life lessons learned on the athletic field, and MI Student Aid promotes continuing education for our student-athletes by providing financial assistance in pursuing those opportunities,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, Executive Director of the MHSAA. “We are always seeking to make students and their families aware of all that can be gleaned from educational athletics, and we’re glad to provide an avenue for MI Student Aid to promote the options available to help in financing the continuation of their studies.”
In addition to radio and video contributions, MI Student Aid will have an on-site presence at MHSAA championship events throughout this school year and serve as the presenting sponsor of weekly football and boys and girls basketball statewide reports on Second Half.
MI Student Aid also will have an opportunity to connect with students and their families through a presence on the MHSAA’s social media platforms.
“We are extremely excited to be partnered with Michigan High School Athletic Association,” said Anne Wohlfert, Director of the Student Financial Services Bureau. “Students and families oftentimes encounter barriers when paying for college, and MHSAA provides a platform that allows our resources and services to be transparent, directly to the audience we are trying to reach. Our mission and values closely align with that of MHSAA, which made this partnership an easy decision. We are looking forward to a long-lasting, successful partnership with them.”
Click for information on MI Student Aid and connect with MI Student Aid via social media on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
Use of Participate Fees Falls in 2016-17
July 20, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Just under half of high schools responding to an annual Michigan High School Athletic Association survey assessed participation fees to help fund interscholastic athletics in 2016-17, making it the first school year since 2009-10 that fewer than 50 percent of respondents reported not charging student-athletes to play sports.
The survey, completed by 557 high schools – or 74 percent of the MHSAA membership – showed 49.7 percent charged participation fees, down from 51.5 percent in 2015-16.
There were 750 senior high schools in the MHSAA membership in 2016-17. This was the 13th survey of schools since the 2003-04 school year, when members reported fees were charged by 24 percent of schools. The percentage of member schools charging fees crossed 50 percent in 2010-11 and reached a high of 56.6 percent in 2013-14.
Class A schools remained the largest group charging fees, as 70 percent of respondents did so in 2016-17 and at least 70 percent have charged for the last five years. Class B schools ticked up to 52 percent charging fees, but Class C (42 down from 49 percent) and Class D (35 down from 38 percent) both reported lower percentages of schools charging fees.
Charging a standardized fee for each team on which a student-athlete participates – regardless of the number of teams – remains the most popular method among schools assessing fees, with that rate at 44 percent of schools that assessed fees for the second straight year. Schools charging a one-time standardized fee per student-athlete rose slightly, from 27 to 31 percent over the last year. Also for the second straight year, the survey showed a slight decrease in schools assessing fees based on tiers of the number of sports a student-athlete plays (for example, charging a larger fee for the first team and less for additional sports) and also a slight decrease in fees being assessed based on the specific sport being played.
The amounts of most fees also remained consistent from 2015-16 to 2016-17: the median annual maximum fee per student at $150, the median annual maximum family fee at $300 and the median per-team fee at $75 – all for at least the third straight year. The median fee assessed by schools that charge student-athletes once per year increased again, but only $5 to $125 after showing a $20 increase per student-athlete between 2014-15 and 2015-16.
The survey for 2016-17 and surveys from previous years can be found on the MHSAA Website by clicking here.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.