The drastic increases occurred just as the fall sports season was kicking off, and while many administrators knew fuel prices had been inching up for months, years even, the rapid increase took some by surprise.

"It's certainly an unforeseen budget hit," said Dennis Farrell, commissioner of the Big West Conference. "The way that gas prices have taken off so dramatically, particularly here in California ... all of the (Big West) member schools have to deal with that."

At the conference level, Farrell said the Big West already has adjusted the mileage reimbursement for officials, and if the fuel-cost situation continues, official assignments could be affected.

Institutions in high fuel-cost states bear a larger expense than some others, but schools that belong to conferences that are geographically spread out also feel the pinch. Mike Jones, athletics director at Division III Mississippi College, said his teams are a 15-hour bus ride from their furthest American Southwest Conference competitor, Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. Jones tries to charter transportation as much as possible, but those prices have risen along with fuel costs.

"I have a big concern for the future if it continues to stay as it is. Two-dollar gas prices have really affected us," Jones said. "We are juggling things in our budget. One of my big jobs is fund-raising, so I'm looking for outside sources to help us. It's difficult."

Some officials are looking beyond budget cuts and fund-raising to solve the problem of unforeseen travel expenses. In Division II, discussions about changing regionalization configurations are in part guided by a desire to reduce travel time and costs. The leader of one Division II institution is advocating a different policy change that would reduce travel costs and, he said, contribute to energy conservation efforts.

Beheruz N. Sethna, president at the University of West Georgia, recognizes the strain fuel costs are putting on his institution both inside and outside of the athletics department. He said academic and administrative units are cutting down on travel costs, and it's only fair to ask athletics to do the same.

"Belt-tightening makes a little more sense and is a little more palatable if it's a shared pain. I'm not even saying equal, just shared," Sethna said. "If a faculty member can't go to a conference and sees a staff member can't go to a conference, it makes that person say, 'OK.' But then if you turn around and ask how many games have you cut or changed, the answer is zero because you can't."

Sethna advocates cutting the minimum number of required games to allow institutions to make cuts that are more fair to the entire school -- an idea he said might be radical and have little support, but he believes could work.

"There are some who pretend that if we reduce the number of games played per sport, the fabric of the universe will unravel. I assure you it won't," he said. "We used to have fewer games than we currently do, so no matter how much people jump up and down about the world ending if there is a reduction in the number of games, historical evidence indicates that there is nothing sacrosanct about the number of games currently played. The economic-development argument -- more games mean more economic stimulation -- is indeed a reasonable one, but no more valid for any other form of professional development or other travel."

Sethna said he believes a refusal to curtail athletics travel at a time when all other areas of a university are cutting back will likely create problems for the athletics department in the future.

"It will send a message that athletics is somehow more important to higher education than faculty and staff development, research travel, student travel, et cetera," he said. "Such a message -- whether openly articulated or implied -- is not just absurd but is likely to be perceived as being arrogant."

-- Michelle Brutlag Hosick