Are institutional investments in athletics driving negative perceptions of higher ed?

A recent analysis by KDM engineering is targeting the lopsidedness of higher ed's investment in athletics versus academics; specifically, the analysis looks at how much money is put into scholarships for sports ($2.9 billion) versus STEM fields ($1.6 billion), despite the fact that there are more STEM jobs in the U.S. economy (8.6 million) than sports jobs (11,800). The analysis breaks down to $180 investment per STEM worker, versus $245,763 per professional athlete.Though professional athletes out-earn professional scientists, the return on public investment favors a greater investment in STEM professionals: the average career length of a STEM worker is 40-45 years while a pro athlete’s career typically only lasts three to five years.