In a curiously Onion-like article, Inside Higher Ed reported today that Post University, a for-profit school in which most students take their courses online, will now have a football team:
To hear Ken Zirkle, Post’s president, tell it, starting a sprint football team and affiliating it with those from a handful of highly selective institutions will help the university in ways more valuable than the initial start-up investment of around $400,000 and the eventual annual cost of around $150,000 to maintain the team. Like a number of presidents who consider adding a traditional football team to their institution, Zirkle hopes Post’s sprint football team will help bolster the enrollment of male students, which he believes is lacking.
This comes at a time when many traditional schools are cutting football programs due to high cost.
But Zirkle and other Post administrators believe that its football program will almost pay for itself in addition to fostering school spirit and athleticism.
Apparently in this case, the online version just wasn’t good enough.
