Editor’s note: The fee amount of $85 per student per year reported in this article was based on the calculation that all Pullman undergraduates and graduate students would pay the fee. The amount has since been clarified to apply only to Pullman undergraduates and would be about $100 per student per year.

The Board of Regents will review at its meeting today a plan to reduce WSU Athletics’ $13 million deficit. This plan includes a new $85 student fee and doubled donations from the Cougar Athletic Fund.

According to a letter regarding the plan developed by President Kirk Schulz, Athletic Director Bill Moos, Associate Director of Athletics Matt Kleffner and Chief University Budget Officer Joan King, these and additional revenue sources would get Athletics out of the red by 2020 and allow it to begin repaying its debt.

If it succeeds, the department would have a $300,000 surplus by 2020 and a $1.2 million surplus the following year. Schulz and Moos have met several times to discuss the problem since Schulz originally vowed in the spring to present a plan in September. Neither could be reached for comment.

The largest change in revenue would come from the extra Cougar Athletic Fund donations. According to the plan, this funding would need to double by 2019 to $2 million per year.

The next greatest revenue source would be the student fee, which according to the plan would total $1.7 million in 2018, or an average of $85 a year for each of WSU’s approximately 20,000 students.

“We, as students,” said ASWSU President Taylor Christenson, “are very conscious and questioning of any additional fees that are added onto our bill each year.”

She said fees are sometimes unavoidable, but that student leaders will meet with Schulz soon to discuss possibilities for lowering the deficit without the fee.

The letter cites the benefit students receive from PAC-12 membership and states that the fee would be used for costs related to this benefit. These include coverage of the president’s box in Martin Stadium and custodial support for athletic facilities used primarily by students.

In future years, the letter states, the fee would fund some coverage of PAC-12 dues, the Athletics academic support unit, and partial compensation for revenue lost in creation of the PAC-12 Network.

Other revenue sources include increased single game and season ticket sales for football and men’s basketball, and Athletic Training Room billing. It also includes beer sales in Martin Stadium, which the Liquor and Cannabis Board has discussed at two meetings but has not yet approved.

The letter references expense reductions such as leaving positions unfilled and “overall belt tightening,” but does not mention specifics. One of these reductions, however, will come from the elimination of a Seattle football game, according to the letter.

The main internal sources of the debt, according to the letter, are new facilities, investment in the football program and changes in men’s basketball and baseball coaches.

The letter states that NCAA and PAC-12 rules, such as deregulation of food for student athletes, the cost of scholarships for student athletes and increased PAC-12 dues, have also caused some of the debt.