<p>Again, sports news is talking about scholarship athletes and their need for pocket money. Personally, I have no problem with allowing schools to give these athletes some small monthly stipend for pocket money so that they’re not tempted to do unethical things so that they have a few bucks for pizza out with friends. I think the NCAA should allow for that.</p>
<p>These athletic scholarships cover room, board, books, fees…but we all know that COA is several thousand more because of “personal expenses” and travel. So, my question is…Can’t these athletes take out student loans so that they will a few thousand per year for pocket money? Or do they already do/allow this?</p>
<p>and what about the low income ones…do they get Pell?</p>
<p>this will just create more space between the “haves” and “have nots” of college sports.</p>
<p>If your football program brings in $40 million, you can do this, but it would put a strain on MANY college athletic departments that are already losing money, including many of the schools where the athletes are actually expected to go to class and turn in quality work, unlike at many of the “big time” programs.</p>
<p>Pell grants aren’t loans and are based on fafsa, but do not count toward the ncaa limit. Scholarship Student athletes cannot take out additional loans over and above the grant-in-aid or take additional employment while enrolled on school.
Any grants, outside scholarships, or merit awards cannot be stacked and can reduce the full scholarship amount.</p>
<p>The problem is that these kids are often offered all kinds of things that are difficult to turn down. They are not usually the brightest kids around when it comes to judgment anyways, and unfortunately the climate is such that too many of them are crossing the line so it is often a “everybody’s doing it” thing. It is really a sad situation, in my opinion, because a lot of what is given is so temporary in nature, like a leased car, or other things that go "poof’ like Cinderella’s finery at midnight. </p>
<p>The kids who are in those sports that are so “hot” that they get full rides, are up to COA anyways, so they can’t get Stafford loans. Some of them come from families that are so poor and have no idea how any of this works. All of this is one big windfall and they are hearing stories of more and more and more, and they want to grab it while they can. There is also a big gap for many of them as COA is an average figure and sometimes with these kids, the families are not going to supply things like bed linens that they need and other things that the average family provides for their college kids. How do I know? I’ve seen it. A lot of the rules are broken right on the first day when the rooms have to be outfitted with the basics for the kid when you aren’t supposed to be giving them that even. If they need appropriate clothes, supplies, anything, and they don’t have it, they are often given those things, all in violation of the rules. It creates an expectation that everything will be provided, and that just isn’t the case. It also shows the rules can be bent, and they get bent further. </p>
<p>The athletic scholarship should be given and administered by someone in the athletic department who works with each athlete in budgeting the money to take care of college costs. This can be done–some schools provide one to one tutors for these athletes. Any college services provided can be done without violated the rules. They would be doing a huge favor, teaching these kids to live within their means and within NCAA rules instead of looking the other ways. Many of them who do not make it to the pros will need those skills more than getting extra money for college expenses.</p>
<p>The athletic scholarships are administered by the Athletic dept. These players dont see any money…as freshmen/sophmores even room and board, meal plans are billed to athletic dept, and not given to student athlete. They have no money to budget.</p>
<p>*Pell grants aren’t loans and are based on fafsa, but do not count toward the ncaa limit. Scholarship Student athletes cannot take out additional loans over and above the grant-in-aid or take additional employment while enrolled on school.
Any grants, outside scholarships, or merit awards cannot be stacked and can reduce the full scholarship amount. *</p>
<p>Ok…so if the argument is that these kids need some kind of stipend because they are often sooooooo poor that their families can’t give them pocket money…then…if they’re EFC 0, then they should be getting Pell Grants in their pockets for spending money. $5550 per year is a lot of “pocket money”…it’s more than my kids have to blow on dates and stuff. </p>
<p>And…those who don’t qualify for Pell, they can take out student loans up to COA and up to the amount of their school year. </p>
<p>Or…is the problem that the schools reduce their athletic scholarships by the cost of Pell in order to “save” themselves some athletic money?</p>
<p>I imagine that if an athlete qualifies for a merit scholarship as well, then that just reduces the athletic scholarship…further saving the athletic dept money.</p>
<p>Absolutely. That allows the athletic department (and the individual team) to give out more scholarship money. At my alma mater, nearly the entire gymnastics program was on academic scholarship instead of athletic scholarship. Since most of them were from out of state, I’m sure it saved the gymnastics program a ton of money each year!</p>
<p>What about a student athlete on a full ride (tuition, room, board) but who is not getting the full COA? Can’t they take Pell or loan money to cover expenses? There are expenses outside of tuition, room and board that make up COA.</p>
<p>If they are getting full COA, but never see a cent, where is the extra money going after their tuition, room and board, books are paid for…</p>
<p>Not every athlete, or any student for that matter, eats 3 meals a day, seven days a week, at the cafeteria. What about McDonalds/Subway/BK money? I can see that if all bills are paid for tuition, room, meals, books directly by the AD, that there is no money for the student to budget. But any student needs some pocket money. If they get the full COA, where is the rest going? And if they don’t, why can’t they get Pell money or loan money for this? How do they pay for school supplies? Stuff they need. A needy athlete with absolutely no pocket money and no money coming from home is going to be faced with challenges.</p>
<p>mom2…Pell grants can be absorbed into the financial aid award the school gives these athletes. It is not above and beyond the other types of need based aid. Many schools actually USE the Pell to reduce the amount that the SCHOOL itself has to give these students in grant money…if they are Pell eligible.</p>
<p>Re: the Stafford loans, it’s my understanding that anyone can take out a Stafford loan. Buy completing the FAFSA they would be eligible to so so. </p>
<p>In any case, their financial aid awards CAN NOT exceed the cost of attendance…and yes I know that personal expenses are included in the cost of attendance.</p>
<p>These students are often GIVEN stipends in their aid packages for their transportation, books and the like. What would you like the schools to give them petty cash for…trips to the mall or concert tickets? Sorry, but I do not support college funding discretionary spending money for anyone.</p>
<p>These athletes get room, board, tuition, fees, books, transportation, and often other things like their athletic clothing, backpacks, and other things needed for their use as student athletes.</p>
<p>Student-athletes CANNOT be given money for transportation. The only exception to that would be for athletic competition and team travel. </p>
<p>As a representative of the athletic department, it would have been against NCAA rules for me to give an athlete a ride to WalMart much less travel from home to the school. The only time I could give a ride to an athlete was to and from a doctor’s appointment…</p>
<p>*Pell grants aren’t loans and are based on fafsa, but do not count toward the ncaa limit. Scholarship Student athletes cannot take out additional loans over and above the grant-in-aid or take additional employment while enrolled on school.
Any grants, outside scholarships, or merit awards cannot be stacked and can reduce the full scholarship amount. *</p>
<p>I don’t understand the fact that they can’t take out a Stafford as long as the amount doesn’t exceed COA. What about those with partial head scholarships???</p>
<p>Since the value of athletic scholarship is BELOW COA, these students should be allowed to take out student loans. Or, if they qualify for Pell (an entitlement) they should get that…which you say they do. </p>
<p>This is what I mean…</p>
<p>example…COA = $37k at an OOS public</p>
<p>Tuition/fees $21k
room and board $10k</p>
<h2>books $1k</h2>
<p>this is the athletic scholarship and it’s worth only $32k…but COA is $37k.</p>
<p>So…if the student qualifies for Pell, he should get Pell. (I’m guessing that **athletic **scholarships don’t get reduced for Pell amounts…but maybe they do)</p>
<p>And if he doesn’t get Pell for whatever reason, then he should be able to borrow up to $5k to get to that $37k COA.</p>
<p>Right?</p>
<p>*Student-athletes CANNOT be given money for transportation. The only exception to that would be for athletic competition and team travel.
*</p>
<p>this is true…the NCAA had to issue exemptions to LSU so athletes could take money to get out of Kartrina disaster area…and Bama had to get the same exemption from the NCAA after the Tornado in April</p>
<p>I wasn’t talking about transportation to the local Walmart. Some schools include transportation from HOME to the COLLEGE as part of their cost of attendance amount. </p>
<p>I don’t know the answer to this…but can colleges provide scholarship money to these students for this purpose to those receiving athletic scholarships? I could see how it might be a financial hardship for a student who has a very low EFC to come up with plane ticket money to GET to a college across the country, for example.</p>
<p>Other need based awards CAN include this type of aid.</p>
<p>It depends on the school how these things are done. But from what I have seen, it isn’t that these kids don’t have the money to get the things that ordinary college kids do, but that they do not have the support and knowledge from their family and there is also a environment that encourages a sense of entitlement to them. Who knows how much money and what goodies they already got before they signed and committed to the school? They don’t always get it that everybody doesn’t get the goodies and get a way with it.</p>
<p>I know. And my point is THAT’S NOT ALLOWED. It’s an NCAA violation. Those student-athletes may be able to take it out as a part of a loan, but they cannot be given that money in the way of a scholarship from the school.</p>
<p>hops…thank you for that clarification. BUT that does beg Mom2’s question…can these students take out a Stafford loan to cover these costs. Another poster upstream seemed to imply that they could not do this either.</p>