BYU jumps into the playing players realm.

[IowaCougar]

One thing I'm interested in is this:

Do colleges still split their scholarships? In my day it was common to have a 1/2 scholarship, or a room and board/no tuition, or a tuition only scholarship. Do the teams still have this option in order to get some help to more people? If so, how does the stipend fit into this scheme?

[scott715]

There are split scholarships in the lesser sports.

[Mars]

There are split scholarships in the lesser sports.

And I believe that the stipends are also split accordingly. 1/2 schollie, 1/2 stipend, etc.

[EM_Puma]

http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/byu-couga ... ce-stipend

BYU #10

So BYU's is higher because it's a longer trip to the airport? I don't know if I still understand. It seems like if a school wants to pay more they can, but it has to be justified. I wonder if some of the disparity resulted from other schools not knowing what the other schools would offer and will make adjustments later. I simply cannot see Puketah feeling safe sitting on their Puke12 laurels as a driving force to overcome athletes pocketing almost $100/month more if they go to BYU rather than Puketah. $100 in a college player's hand should get his attention. That's a few dates he can now afford (or diapers for the kidee).

Dave Noriega went to half a dozen very recruitable players and I don't think it is yet as big of a factor that it will grow to be. Several of them, including one they said had tipped his hat to USC, one of the low end paying schools, said it was not that important. What else are they going to say. So I don't' know if this will have as much impact come February, but by the next February, if the disparity continues, I have to believe it will become more of an influence. Just my two cents.

[scott715]

[stgeorgefan]

If your a kid that has NFL dreams than stipend is the least of your worries. You want the school that will best prepare you to make millions.
IMO this will be a big deal with 2-3 star players and no so big for 4-5 star guys.

[YNot]

No. The cost to school a football player at BYU, scholie and COA, is far less than at USC, given the tuition difference. And this difference certainly his not even in the top 5 reasons why BYU can't get an invite to a P5 conference.

This is absolutely an act of desperation. BYU is losing ground in recruiting. It just is. BYU has to do anything within its power to even the playing field for recruiting Elite athletes. TH is throwing everything and the kitchen sink at building the perception that BYU tis. Ready for prime time.

Honor code: strike 1.
Non P5 Conference: strike 2
Poor NFL draft record: strike 3

But hey, for a consolation prize, BYU can offer a whopping one thousand more dollars per year. I don't like the extra money out Of my pocket as a fan and little d-donor, but I get that TH has to do whatever he can to get some win-back with all of the disadvantages. And all at the risk of breaching if not leading out (top 10) into grey ethical territory of pay for play for amateur athletes.

My understanding is that the number is based on full cost of attendance (COA) numbers reported for federal aid and loan purposes - tuition + fees + books + living expenses (which can include room and board and also allowances for transportation, supplies, loan fees, dependent care, personal computer, study-abroad, etc.). This is a number reported so that the average student (ie, non-athlete) can receive federal financial aid to cover their education.

https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/costatt.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The COA number directly relates to how much financial aid a student can receive for a year of school. (personal experience for non-BYU grad school).

This spills into football and athletics because athletics scholarships generally cover tuition, fees, books, and room and board - but not the transportation, computer, and other "extra" allowances.

Because private schools like USC, Stanford, and Boston College already have such high tuition expenses, they intentionally lower the cost of living expenses and allowances estimates so that the total COA number for the average student (ie, non-athlete) appears more competitive. So, they are at a distinct disadvantage in the "player stipend" arena, because the schools' reported COA number is understated to be more competitive with other education institutions.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

There will definitely be some athletes that shop schools based on the COA payout. How many is yet to be determined.

There will likely be some universities that re-evaluate their reported COA numbers, but I doubt that there will be much movement from the universities, because the Presidents and school administrators will have to balance benefits to the athletics programs with the detriment to marketing the costs to attend to the average student.

[snoscythe]

BYU has to be in the top-tier to stay competitive. It's not about giving them an extra reason to come to BYU, it's about denying the other schools further arguments to feed recruits against coming to BYU.

[redneckjedi]

This is kind of off-topic, but it would be really awesome if BYU offered a similar number of similarly-priced academic scholarships. Speaking from experience, you can learn a ton more, get better grades, and do some sweet undergraduate research when you don't need to work part- or full-time to pay the bills. I pulled it off with 3 scholarships, not one, and ended up working two jobs anyway for the experience, but I imagine if you really wanted to grow the reputation of a department or college, that would probably help you get some of the best and brightest. Then again, BYU already has a super high offer acceptance rate, second only to Harvard, so it would only really help if it expanded the pool of applicants.

Really, with the way we recruit in football, it's the same deal - we usually go after guys that want to be here already and are a good fit, so this stipend business only helps if it expands that pool of interested players who are willing and able to live the honor code.

[jvquarterback]

It's about time. Hopefully we'll see the athletes getting to market themselves like the rest of college students are encouraged to do.

I suppose it isn't any more sickening to see the athletic department mooch off the players than it is for the arts department to mooch off the taxes of everyone else at most state universities.

It's too bad all the private schools in the country didn't break off to do their own thing long ago. Most of them have become just as dependent on tax subsidies in the form of student financial aid so it isn't too surprising.