The MTSU Board of Trustees Finance and Personnel Committee voted May 20 to propose a $97.50 increase in mandatory fees for the upcoming academic year. More than half of the increase would be allocated to MTSU athletics.
MTSU’s Student Government Association said in a statement posted on Instagram that it was “deeply concerned” with the proposal, while Chris Massaro, director of athletics, said the additional funds will benefit not just student athletes, but everyone at MTSU.
“Unlike every other department or office that submitted a fee request, the Athletic Department did not engage with students or the SGA at any point during this process,” SGA said in its official statement.
Something RJ Ware, current SGA president, fears has turned into a trend.
The athletics department did the same thing in 2023, War said. A letter by the then-SGA president, Michai Mosby, highlighted the same issues mentioned in the 2025 statement.
“We note that a large portion of this mandatory fee increase can be attributed to Athletics,” the letter said. “This is a special concern to our students for at least two reasons … It has been a longstanding practice at MTSU that departments proposing an increase to a mandatory student fee first bring the proposal to the SGA executive board.”
Massaro said he regretted not taking it to the students before making the proposition, but did so because he was unaware of how much money athletics needed when SGA questioned different colleges.
“At the time, I didn’t know what to ask for,” Massaro said. “I knew we would need some help with all the balls we had up in the air.”
He added that the final number came from the planning and finance committee, not athletics.
Massaro said he asked MTSU president Sidney A. McPhee and Alan Thomas, vice president of business and finance, for the increase.
“So they know, kinda, that we wanted the fee put together,” Massaro said. “I don’t know what the formulas were on that in terms of why it ended up at 64 as opposed to 65 or 25.”
Most of the funds will be allocated toward making the aging Murphy Center more ADA compliant, a measure Ware and Massaro agree is necessary. Massaro said he did not know how much of the mandatory fee increase would be allocated to the Murphy Center and how much to athletics.
He pointed out that colleges and departments that partner with athletics will also benefit, like the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, the School of Journalism and Strategic Media, the College of Basic Applied Sciences and the School of Business.
Massaro also wanted to remind students that the public comment period is still open until June 10 at 4:30 p.m.
Ware said he did not think that the athletic department did anything nefarious; he just hopes that the department will be more transparent in the future.
What do student athletes think?
“I’d love to see that money go toward creating a dining hall specifically for student athletes,” senior soccer player Yana Yordanova said. “Having a place where we can eat for free with access to nutritious, high-quality meals would make a huge difference in our performance, recovery and overall well-being. It would also build a stronger sense of community among athletes among sports.”
Another athlete, sophomore running back Jekail Middlebrook, also wants nutrition to be a priority if the extra funding is approved.
“I would like to see the money go into better nutrition for the student athletes,” Middlebrook said. “Some athletics may need updated equipment, or even just putting dollars in our student athletes’ pockets.”
The Board of Trustees is set to vote on the increase on June 17. All meetings are free and open to the public.
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