In college sports, do big games lead to big fees for students?

It's not a stretch to say that, for many college students, the best moments of their university years rage by in a blur of tailgaters and giant foam fingers.

At most major universities nationwide, college campus culture and athletics exist like conjoined siblings: fused from the moment of conception and hard-wired into each others' DNA. But all the "rah-rah" of a premier college sports team requires some serious "cha-ching" to maintain its momentum -- and a series of recent articles in USA Today might leave students wondering whether the cost of attending a school with top-tier athletic programs has grown too heavy to bear.