Manhattan Christian College intends to have live sports this fall, including soccer and volleyball.
The process of playing out a full season won’t be without hiccups though, as much of what MCC is able to do is dependent on the plans of other colleges.
MCC is part of the National Christian College Athletic Association and also competes against colleges from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“Some of the schools that we play that are at different levels than we are have also made the decision that they’re only going to play essential games, and so that’s changing some of what we’ve done,” Kevin Ingram, president of MCC, said.
A number of NCAA Division 1 conferences, including the PAC 12 and Big 10, have also made the decision to play conference-only schedules.
Doing so may help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to student-athletes attending those schools, but it can financially hurt schools that rely on those games as a source of funding.
“Some of those are kind of our guarantee games that they pay us for bringing in our basketball team and beating up on us,” Ingram said. “Just like in football, that happens: you bring in a smaller school (for) kind of a preseason game and they give us some money for coming out.”
The cancellation of such games won’t be a total loss for MCC, though, as donors and alumni have stepped up to replace some of those funds.
Donors and alumni have also stepped up to make up for funding gaps in other areas at MCC.
According to Ingram, MCC refunded housing and dining fees to students for the last nine weeks of the spring semester.
These fees help pay for what MCC provides through housing and dining services as well as its annual fund.
“Our donors have remained very faithful with us,” Ingram said. “There was a real concern that that would massively drop off and it has not. In fact, there have been some extra gifts come in of which we are very grateful for.”
In addition to moving forward with fall athletics, MCC intends to have in-person classes this semester.
“Our classes are a little more handleable for us because we don’t have really any classes that are over 50 students, so that gives us a little more flexibility,” Ingram said. “But we are rearranging and planning so that we can still have social distancing and provide as safe an environment as possible.”
MCC has been working with Kansas State University to line up class and move-in schedules.
About one-third of MCC students participate in dual-degree programs involving K-State.
Resident assistants are scheduled to arrive on Aug. 12, athletes and upperclassmen on Aug. 13 and new students on Aug. 14.
Classes are scheduled to start on Aug. 17.
MCC will be providing each student with a face mask donning the MCC logo.
Also scheduled to take place this fall are MCC’s free bible class, leadership breakfast and golf tournament, which is scheduled to take place on Sept. 25.
To find out more about the free bible class, call 785-539-3571.
