It was probably 1998 or so. My wife, my son, still a baby then and I were at a zoo. I won’t say where because I’m about to accuse some people of some particularly shady dealings, but it probably won’t be hard for you to put it together.
Anyway, we’re at the zoo, looking at the red pandas when I notice that a group of about 30 giant men walk past and around us, looking at the monkeys and talking to each other. It takes me a minute without the jerseys and numbers, but I recognize some of them from the local big Division I football team.
As we leave for the day, so does the team. Each group of players, some alone, some two to a vehicle, some loaded with four players, all drive away in brand new Ford Explorers.
How does a 19, 20, 21-year old kid, who isn’t allowed to work under NCAA guidelines, afford a $30,000 sport utility vehicle? Your guess is as good as mine, I write sarcastically. I bring this up for one reason. This type of “payment” that athletes get because they choose a specific school at which to play football or basketball, that’s not what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about legal, tangible tender. I’m talking filthy lucre, loot, bread, gravy, coinage, dough, capital and greenbacks, all acquired completely above board. Everybody knows about it. Everybody except those in the talking head media, at least. And maybe you didn’t know it either, but you at least have an excuse. People don’t pay you to write and talk about it.
What is a full-ride scholarship?
Simply put, the school foots the bill for an athlete’s tuition, his food, his housing and any related school expenses like books and fees. The athlete pays for absolutely none of this out of pocket. There is a catch, though. There are just a few Division I sports that can offer full-ride scholarships, but you may have heard of them; (FBS only) football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s tennis and women’s gymnastics. You may recognize a few of those sports as the subjects specifically on every single article, thought piece or sports TV segment advocating for NCAA athletes to be paid.
Let’s talk about what that full-ride is worth in real dollars. Using the University of Tennessee as an example, an in-state student’s tuition is $11,246 a year. An out-of-state student will pay $29,696 a year. A school like Duke can cost as much as $60,000 a year, but we’re going to stick with Tennessee for our example here.
Ok, but where’s this cash of which you speak, sir?
Have you ever heard of Financial Aid? I’m sure that you have. Chances are if you’re like me you couldn’t have gone to college without it. Were you aware that a student’s athletic scholarship status has no bearing at all on the amount of financial aid he can receive from the federal government? Yes. That’s right. Athletes with full-ride scholarship still get Pell Grants. It’s based on financial need but the full grant is $5,730 and since they have absolutely no costs for attending school, it goes straight into their pocket.
Is that it?
Ha. No. If you qualify for a Pell Grant, you also get a $500 a year clothing allowance. After an athlete’s freshman year, they can move off campus to an apartment or a house and the school is allowed to pay for it, somewhere up to around $8,000 for the fall and spring semesters. Not only that, but if they stay for summer school or to work out in the offseason program, they still get their rent paid up to around $3,000.
Surely that’s it, right?
Nope. There’s this thing called the Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund, which is basically a blank check that a senior member of the athletic department can decide to use for an athlete’s benefit if they think there’s a “need.” That could be for clothes, transportation, pretty much anything at the athletic department’s discretion. The school gets $200,000 a year to blow on this fund from the NCAA and you better believe they use it.
My God, man.
Oh I’m not done. Athletes can get money from what’s called a Special Assistance Fund that can be used, according to NCAA bylaw 16.12.2, as “additional financial aid” for athletes with “special” financial requirements. This is, specifically, where the $500 “clothing allowance” comes from, but they can use the money for anything they want. And here’s the thing, when I tally up the number of what a Division I FBS football player, men’s basketball player or women’s basketball player gets paid every single year, I’m not even going to count these last two (other than the clothing). I don’t know how I could.
Let’s total it up then.
Tuition – $11,246 to $29,696
Pell Grant – $5,730
Clothing allowance – $500
Year-round housing allowance – $11,000
An in-state student-athlete attending the University of Tennessee is getting money and benefits worth $28,476 a year. An out-of-state player is getting $46,926 a year. Kids going to Notre Dame or Duke are making almost $90,000. All legal. All allowed by the NCAA.
I’m not saying the NCAA is perfect by any means. I think a player should have every right to sell his autograph or trade it for anything he wants. It’s his name, for God’s sake. But to act like these athletes are being mistreated by the multi-billion-dollar monster that is the NCAA is completely ridiculous. How many 19-year-olds do you know not currently dating Rihana or Kelly Rohrbach that are making nearly $50 grand a year without a college diploma?
It’s time for the conversation on this to change. I’m not saying any of this money, even the $6,000 in cash over all living expenses, should go away. I’m saying that the notion of turning NCAA sports into a cash-money bidding war between schools is a mistake.
