This is the sort of thing you can understand students wanting to protest. Even if the two factors aren’t related, the optics are terrible.

The Daily Caller reports.

Clemson Raises Tuition While Pumping Millions Into Athletics

After spending millions on athletic facilities and football staff, South Carolina’s Clemson University is raising tuition on students, which is completely necessary, according to school officials.

For the 2016-17 school year, Clemson University will charge in-state undergrads an additional 3.14 percent for tuition — about $218 per semester, while tuition for out-of-staters will rise 4.27 percent — about $700 per semester, The Greenville News reports.

Meal plans and housing will also see increases of 4 percent and 6 percent respectively.

Jim Clements, president of Clemson University, defended the hikes calling them “crucial in funding our efforts to offer the best college experience possible for our students.”

The tuition hikes follow Clemson’s announcement that its head football coach Dabo Swinney received approval for a salary of $4.55 million that will increase in increments to $5.65 million by 2021. Clemson also dished out $2.5 million to football support staff such as strength and conditioning coaches during the 2013-14 school year, according to a report by CBS Sports.

But the most colossal allocation of the sports budget went to Clemson Athletics. The sports department is in the process of spending $176 million on renovations to several buildings on campus, including its football facilities and its basketball arena, Littlejohn Coliseum.