In response to public outcry over the failure of students to qualify under a free-tuition prize related to football attendance, the Northern Illinois University Athletics program is offering an olive branch.
Students who attended all six home games were notified this week of a reward for their efforts.
WNIJ obtained a letter provided to one of the recipients:
"You are receiving this email because of your support and dedication during the 2015 home football season. On behalf of NIU Athletics, thank you for attending all six games! Although the goal to average 6,000 students per game was not met, we appreciate the school spirit you displayed and would like to reward you and each of the other students who were at every game this fall.
We would like to personally invite you to the spring football game (Huskie Bowl) scheduled to be held on Friday, April 22 in Huskie Stadium (time TBD). As our special guest, you’ll watch the game from the Yordon Terrace, our premium area in the north end zone, while enjoying food provided by Athletics! Secondly, we want to offer you two (2) free football season tickets for the season immediately following your graduation from NIU! Lastly, NIU Athletics will provide $100.00 towards your tuition bill for this semester!"
NIU Athletics provided this statement to WNIJ:
"While the overall goal of the Mission 6 promotion was not met, NIU Athletics feels that it is important to show our appreciation for the NIU students that showed their school spirit and supported our football program at every home game last year. After consultation with our Director of Athletics, the decision was made to reward each individual student that attended all six home games during the 2015 NIU football season. According to official records, 86 students came to each of our six home games in 2015 and we will be contacting each of those individuals directly to show our appreciation.
We appreciate all our students and their support of our athletic programs. We will continue to improve our communication with our students to ensure there is no confusion around our promotions moving forward. At the end of the day, we are all on the same team and want to make every student’s experience, here at NIU, a memorable one."
Here is WNIJ's previous story:
A couple of NIU freshmen who thought they were in the running for free tuition learned this week they were out of the contest earlier than they thought.
Last semester, Northern Illinois University offered a chance to win free tuition for a semester to one lucky student who attended all six home football games.
A total of 86 students recorded their attendance at all of those games, but the student body as a whole failed to fulfill another condition.
That's according to Morris White, an associate director for NIU athletics. He says the "Mission 6" incentive also required an average student attendance of 6,000 for the home games.
He says that number fell short, so no student in that pool of those who made it to all of the games will receive the tuition award.
White says the most student-attended game was the first one, with just under 3,000 students.
"Once we looked at the numbers and ran the overall student attendance, we did not meet the 6,000 student requirement, so we weren't able to fulfill that opportunity for the spring semester for free tuition," White said.
White says it's unclear if the university will try the contest again next year.
"I think one of the things that we want to try is to continue to engage our students and our fan base and encourage them to come to games because you never know what kind of fun promotions, fun things we are going to have at our athletic events," White said.
Freshman Emily Adams and her boyfriend Tommy Stout, also a first-year NIU student, both braved the sometimes chilly temperatures in a quest for free tuition. They say they checked in at each game and are both disappointed that it took so long to learn there was no winner. They also felt the app could have been more clear about all of the requirements.
“I'm not much of a football fan. I went to the last game only for the tuition thing. We were standing in the snow in the bleachers and my feet were freezing. It was just not a good time," Adams said.
Adams, from Huntley, says she heard about the contest through the Red/Black Rewards app.
"I did it because I really need the money. I don’t want to have student loans later in life to mess with," Adams said.
She says just last week she asked her boyfriend if he had heard yet if there was a winner. It wasn't until this week that she learned the student goal had been short after the first game.
“I was waiting for it and waiting for it and waiting for it and it just kind of disappeared.”
Adams says the games were fun, but she's not sure she would have gone to all of them.
“I think they should try it again, but do it for something with academics, like, going to all of your classes and get entered into a drawing to get tuition for the next semester. Everybody could participate in it.”
Stout agrees the contest could be re-purposed.
“I think they should try it again but instead of football, change it to another sport that they are trying to spread awareness to,” Stout said.
Who does he blame?
“I say it is a mix because they [the university] didn’t communicate it to us, and I think, had we known, then it would have been the students' fault.”
