Management of Colleges Athletic Programs Assignment

Management of Colleges Athletic Programs - Assignment Example They must quickly develop time-management skills and often have little down time. Student-athletes also have 'a lifestyle that often involves living in a fishbowl-like atmosphere,'" reports Porter (2008) as the author refers to Ender & Wilkie (2000, p. 125). A problem that many colleges and student-athletes face is one where the athletic program leaders, such as a coach or athletic director, demands that the student skip a class in order to attend practice. However, the class that is in conflict with practice is also required. In other words, the student-athlete finds himself/herself torn between missing a class or missing practice. It is a case of athletics versus academics and it is not one to be taken lightly as the college sports become more popular, more entertaining, more in demand, and more commercialized. There is a negative impact of college sports on higher education. However, this is not new. Splitt (2007) cites the Chicago Tribune: [College football] is not a student's game as it once was. It is a highly organized commercial enterprise. The athletes who take part in it have come up through years of training; they are commanded by professional coaches; little if any initiative of ordinary play is left to the player. The great matches are highly profitable enterprises. Sometimes the profits go to finance college sports, sometimes to pay the cost of the sports amphitheater; in some cases the college authorities take a slice for college buildings. The American culture places sports at its core, especially intercollegiate sports. Splitt (2007) refers to her essay, "Sports America 2005" when she reports that, "It seems that only in sports-obsessed and seemingly complacent America can we find a general public that views sports as super cool while the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEMs) are considered to be nerdy, and where athletes have a definite edge when it comes to college admission and retention--often in "diploma-mill-like" alternative education programs with questionable accreditation." The author compares the culture of the United States to that of China. The country focuses on education, particularly engineering education. Large investments are made in order to Last Name 3 build schools and to improve university systems. Learning English is another top priority as the Chinese want to learn the language that is used in global business. American colleges and educational institutions are being sacrificed for the constantly-growing and all-consuming beast called commercialism. "Excessive commercialization has brought academic corruption, financial shenanigans, increasing expenditures on athletics, and money-focused presidents who often view sports programs as an economic necessity and undergraduate education as an expensive nuisance and who have little patience with reform efforts by their faculty," states Splitt (2007). College sports, for many decades now, have been a target for scandals and commercials. Sack (1998, p.B7) in his article, "Big-Time Athletics vs. Academic Values: It's a Rout" refers to his years playing for the University of Notre Dame in the 1960's. Although sports were already being highly commercialized, universities still saw the importance of student-athletes

Guillermo Furniture Store Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Guillermo Furniture Store Analysis - Essay Example By use of the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), multiple valuation methods in minimizing the risks and calculation of Net Present Value (NPV) of future cash flows including sensitivity analysis, the company can find a solution to the impending problem. Weighted Average Cost of Capital The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) refers to the rate of return that the company or business anticipates acquiring on its optimal risk ventures in order to offer a considerable anticipated return to all its shareholders. It is applied in valuing new assets that possess similar risks as the existing assets and that hold a similar debt ratio. WACC is a relevant rate of discount specifically for projects that are similar to the current business operations (Brown, & Reilly, 2006). To determine WACC, one must first understand that a majority of firms use different forms of financing. Some of the financing techniques include use of bonds, ordinary shares, preferred shares and other form of sec urities. The securities have unique types of risks and thus owners seek to get various rates of return. Under such conditions, the firm’s cost of capital might not be equal to the anticipated return on common shares. It is dependent on the anticipated return from the entire portfolio of securities that the firm has given out. Besides, taxes are also included given the point that interest payments executed by the firm are expenses which are tax deductible. In this perspective Guillermo’s cost of capital will be established as the weighted average of post-tax interest cost of debt financing and the equity cost. This is to say that the anticipated rate of return on the company’s ordinary stock. The weights are the portions of debt and equity in the company’s capital structure.  Ã‚  Ã‚  The weighted average cost of capital is utilized to assess optimal risk on the capital ventures on projects. This is means that the risk on the projects coincides with the r isks the company faces on the current operations and assets.   The average cost of capital is found by; WACC = Kd (1-T) Wd + Ke* We (Emery, Finnerty & Stowe, 2007). From the financial statements given the cost of debt before tax is 7.5%, the tax rate stands at 42%, the weight of debt in the capital structure in 2010 is 84.3% while that of 2011 is 82.4%, and the weight of equity in the capital structure is 15.7 in 2010 and 17.5 in 2011 while the cost of equity is 11.34% The above figures were derived as follows; Weight of debt: Information from assets, Liabilities & Equity Information  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wd 2010 = Total liability/ Total Equity=$1,130,963/ [$211,111+$1,130,963] = 84.3% Wd 2011 =Total liability /Total Equity=$1,109,358/ [$235,805+$1,109,358] = 82.4% Cost of equity is derived from the following steps: Risk free rate used is 4.36% while the market rate of return according to S & P rating is 13.08 %. It should be noted that the security’s contribution to the risk of a po rtfolio that is diversified is dependent on the market risk. However, some securities might not be affected by the ups and downs in the market. The sensitivity of securities to market movement is known as beta. Securities with a beta more than 1 are specifically sensitive to the market movement (Emery, Finnerty