This is pretty ridiculous

bessie
Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:31:58 +0000

Every division 1 athlete has to earn qualifying scores on either the sat or the toefel (?)or both. Each year there are reports of talented athletes who could not qualify through the NCAA Clearinghouse (grades, tests, req. course work) so the football player you spoke of obviously met the minimum national standards to be eligible for admissions, plus whatever the UC required of him. Just so you know, athletes are not allowed to be given money. A stipend that covers room and board and books can be given but not in addition to dorm rooms, etc. They do get per diem during the season and a few allowable travel expenses as approved by the ncaa, but most athletes would have a hard time getting by on their scholarships alone. They also are liable for taxes on all scholarship monies that are not used expressly for books, tuition, and school fees. So, if they have either a dorm room or stipend that is valued at 14,000.00, they have to declare that as income and pay taxes on it. It isn’t unlike a regular student taking a 20-30 hour a week work study job to pay their way through school, working nights, weekends, holidays, and summers. The big bonus these days is that, due to their talent, one the university values and decides adds value to their class, they gain admission to a good school. Also- NO ONE outside of the admissions office sees a particular application in its entirety, so any talk of how someone got in with these or those stats is conjecture and rumor.