The commencement of a fresh academic year within schools brings forth a renewed financial landscape for college athletic departments, triggering contemplation regarding an emerging and significant statistic in college sports – the cost of attendance, often abbreviated as COA. This metric is employed by educational institutions to gauge a student’s financial aid requirements. It is stipulated by federal regulations, outlining the permissible categories of expenses that can be included when the institution’s financial aid division calculates the COA for the academic term. While historical practices within athletic departments have involved providing grants-in-aid to cover several fundamental COA components such as tuition, textbooks, and accommodations, restrictions imposed by NCAA regulations have barred these departments from covering certain aspects like travel and personal miscellaneous expenditures.
Esteemed programs within the SEC like those at Tennessee and Georgia now face the task of presenting their methodologies for determining the financial aspects linked to miscellaneous expenses encompassed within their COA calculations. Notably, comments from Mark Richt, the coach at Georgia, have directed attention to the potential manipulation of these formulas.
Nevertheless, in January, a significant development transpired as the power five conferences – namely the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC – granted permission to offer stipends to student athletes, intended to cover the complete cost of attendance. Subsequently, other Division I football conferences embraced a similar stance.
This juncture is where uncertainties arise. The methodologies adopted by financial aid offices for estimating expenses related to travel and personal aspects exhibit variances across different institutions. These divergent approaches result in discrepancies in the stipend amounts extended by various schools, introducing a fresh dimension of distinction within the fiercely competitive domain of recruiting in college athletics.
This transformation has triggered debates surrounding the potential manipulation of the system to secure elevated COAs, thereby conferring recruiting advantages upon select institutions. For instance, when COA figures for the 2015-16 academic term were publicly disclosed, questions arose concerning the substantial contrast between the $5,666 stipend at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, covering transportation and personal expenses, and the $1,580 stipend at the University of Southern California in the notably expensive city of Los Angeles.
While federal guidelines mandate the annual calculation and disclosure of COA figures, they do not impose mandatory adjustments for each category. Typically, financial aid departments of institutions employ student surveys, the Consumer Price Index, or a combination thereof, to ascertain the costs linked to travel and personal expenses.
Susan Fischer, the director of the Office of Student Financial Services at the University of Wisconsin, expounded that her office revises UW’s COA figure on a yearly basis. This revision process draws upon student surveys to ascertain elements such as the average expenditure on cellphone bills. Beyond surveys, the financial aid office also conducts independent research. For instance, it contacts local apartment complexes to gather the latest rental data and assesses the expenses for two annual home trips for students, both in-state and out-of-state, factoring in costs like gas, bus fares, and airfare.
Fischer remarked, “Traveling to and from Madison isn’t economically affordable.” This year, Wisconsin’s travel budget is set at $1,030 for in-state students and $1,630 for out-of-state students. (Excerpt sourced from an article by Kristi Dosh, published in Sports Business Daily)
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