slystone
Well-Known Member
“level playing field” was always a myth.
It became even more so last month when the Power-5conferences voted to allow athletic scholarships up to “cost of attendance,”resulting in additional stipends for full-scholarship athletes at numbersvarying, within the Big Ten, from about $1,900 at Purdue to around $5,700 atPenn State.
What’s fair about that?
And before assuming the difference is based on a community’scost of living, consider that the Gophers, located in the metropolitan city ofMinneapolis, are near the bottom at about $2,200 while the small-town Illiniwill provide a stipend of roughly $2,900 — which sounds OK until you see thatWisconsin can offer around $5,300 for one of the Badgers’ many out-of-staterecruits.
How did this pass without loud outcries over the widediscrepancy in the numbers? How can the UI expect to beat out Wisconsin for aChicagoland athlete when the Badgers can offer $2,400 more — beyond thetraditional tuition, fees, room, board and books? Interestingly, Illinois canoffer a stipend slightly larger than Michigan ($2,452) and only slightly lessthan Ohio State ($3,128).
The numbers are based on each school’s federal financial aidguidelines.
Ryan Squire, UI associate athletics director for compliance,will try to explain the discrepancies. It’s complicated, so take a deep breath.
Conference costs
“Cost of attendance is based on each university’s financialaid office,” explained Squire. “Each office has a different methodology forcalculating. They all work under the same federal guidelines, but theseguidelines provide leeway to calculate differently on each campus.
“Because of this, athletic directors around the country hadreservations in discussing the proposal. But at the end of the day theyrealized there were already some variances in the scholarships, and that thiswas the right thing to do.”
Example: At Illinois in the fall of 2014, the base rate foran out-of-state student was $44,776 ... in-state, $30,150 (some colleges likeengineering, are more). At Wisconsin, a non-resident paid $41,366 compared to$24,466 for a state resident.
Another example: Penn State’s new number for books andsupplies is $1,760; the UI’s is $1,200. Penn State’s number for travel andpersonal expenses is $4,788; the UI’s is $2,500.
Those numbers are straight from the Penn State website. Inreading comments from Auburn’s athletic director, I checked the website to finda (stipend) number near $6,000.
Caution! These are ballpark numbers, based on what theypublish on university websites (all of the figures are listed below). At PennState, tuition and fees for a regular in-state student are listed at $17,502,and $30,452 for out-of-state. Room and meals for both are an additional$10,548, plus $800 for books.
Effect at home
Under another new rule passed last month, all those footballplayers receiving UI scholarships Wednesday are guaranteed (barring missteps)the full amount through the completion of their eligibility, including aredshirt year if it applies.
And if a wrestler or baseball player receives, for example,a 50 percent scholarship, he is assured of at least that percentage through hiscareer, and a similar portion of the new stipend ($1,450, or half of $2,900).The same 50-percent athlete at Penn State would get $2,784 in addition to whathe is receiving this school year.
Might the financial aid office adjust numbers to putIllinois in a stronger position to recruit?
“There are enough checks and balances, and the financial aidoffices are isolated to where they can’t be influenced to change,” Squire said.“Any numbers they put out would apply to every student on campus.
“There is always political pressure coming the otherdirection to keep that number low. We are already one of the costliestuniversities in the Big Ten. So the Board of Trustees doesn’t want to increasethese numbers.
“That serves as a check on the financial aid office beingable to manipulate that number.”
The athletic department’s projected cost for stipends in2015-16 is about $750,000, which is roughly the same number that the new diningrules require — a $1.5 million cost stemming from new regulationsbenefitting athletes.
Stipends for Big Ten full scholarship athletes, 2015-16school year
In-state
Penn State: $5,748
Wisconsin: $4,656
Maryland: $4,154
Nebraska: $3,854
Indiana: $3,736
Rutgers: $3,592
Ohio State: $3,128
Northwestern: $3,079
Illinois: $2,900
Michigan: $2,452
Iowa: $2,378
Minnesota: $2,200
Michigan State: $2,132
Purdue: $1,910
Out-of-state
Penn State: $5,748
Wisconsin: $5,306
Maryland: $4,154
Nebraska: $3,854
Indiana: $3,736
Rutgers: $3,592
Ohio State: $3,128
Northwestern: $3,079
Illinois: $2,900
Michigan State: $2,870
Michigan: $2,452
Iowa: $2,378
Minnesota: $2,200
Purdue: $1,910
It became even more so last month when the Power-5conferences voted to allow athletic scholarships up to “cost of attendance,”resulting in additional stipends for full-scholarship athletes at numbersvarying, within the Big Ten, from about $1,900 at Purdue to around $5,700 atPenn State.
What’s fair about that?
And before assuming the difference is based on a community’scost of living, consider that the Gophers, located in the metropolitan city ofMinneapolis, are near the bottom at about $2,200 while the small-town Illiniwill provide a stipend of roughly $2,900 — which sounds OK until you see thatWisconsin can offer around $5,300 for one of the Badgers’ many out-of-staterecruits.
How did this pass without loud outcries over the widediscrepancy in the numbers? How can the UI expect to beat out Wisconsin for aChicagoland athlete when the Badgers can offer $2,400 more — beyond thetraditional tuition, fees, room, board and books? Interestingly, Illinois canoffer a stipend slightly larger than Michigan ($2,452) and only slightly lessthan Ohio State ($3,128).
The numbers are based on each school’s federal financial aidguidelines.
Ryan Squire, UI associate athletics director for compliance,will try to explain the discrepancies. It’s complicated, so take a deep breath.
Conference costs
“Cost of attendance is based on each university’s financialaid office,” explained Squire. “Each office has a different methodology forcalculating. They all work under the same federal guidelines, but theseguidelines provide leeway to calculate differently on each campus.
“Because of this, athletic directors around the country hadreservations in discussing the proposal. But at the end of the day theyrealized there were already some variances in the scholarships, and that thiswas the right thing to do.”
Example: At Illinois in the fall of 2014, the base rate foran out-of-state student was $44,776 ... in-state, $30,150 (some colleges likeengineering, are more). At Wisconsin, a non-resident paid $41,366 compared to$24,466 for a state resident.
Another example: Penn State’s new number for books andsupplies is $1,760; the UI’s is $1,200. Penn State’s number for travel andpersonal expenses is $4,788; the UI’s is $2,500.
Those numbers are straight from the Penn State website. Inreading comments from Auburn’s athletic director, I checked the website to finda (stipend) number near $6,000.
Caution! These are ballpark numbers, based on what theypublish on university websites (all of the figures are listed below). At PennState, tuition and fees for a regular in-state student are listed at $17,502,and $30,452 for out-of-state. Room and meals for both are an additional$10,548, plus $800 for books.
Effect at home
Under another new rule passed last month, all those footballplayers receiving UI scholarships Wednesday are guaranteed (barring missteps)the full amount through the completion of their eligibility, including aredshirt year if it applies.
And if a wrestler or baseball player receives, for example,a 50 percent scholarship, he is assured of at least that percentage through hiscareer, and a similar portion of the new stipend ($1,450, or half of $2,900).The same 50-percent athlete at Penn State would get $2,784 in addition to whathe is receiving this school year.
Might the financial aid office adjust numbers to putIllinois in a stronger position to recruit?
“There are enough checks and balances, and the financial aidoffices are isolated to where they can’t be influenced to change,” Squire said.“Any numbers they put out would apply to every student on campus.
“There is always political pressure coming the otherdirection to keep that number low. We are already one of the costliestuniversities in the Big Ten. So the Board of Trustees doesn’t want to increasethese numbers.
“That serves as a check on the financial aid office beingable to manipulate that number.”
The athletic department’s projected cost for stipends in2015-16 is about $750,000, which is roughly the same number that the new diningrules require — a $1.5 million cost stemming from new regulationsbenefitting athletes.
Stipends for Big Ten full scholarship athletes, 2015-16school year
In-state
Penn State: $5,748
Wisconsin: $4,656
Maryland: $4,154
Nebraska: $3,854
Indiana: $3,736
Rutgers: $3,592
Ohio State: $3,128
Northwestern: $3,079
Illinois: $2,900
Michigan: $2,452
Iowa: $2,378
Minnesota: $2,200
Michigan State: $2,132
Purdue: $1,910
Out-of-state
Penn State: $5,748
Wisconsin: $5,306
Maryland: $4,154
Nebraska: $3,854
Indiana: $3,736
Rutgers: $3,592
Ohio State: $3,128
Northwestern: $3,079
Illinois: $2,900
Michigan State: $2,870
Michigan: $2,452
Iowa: $2,378
Minnesota: $2,200
Purdue: $1,910
