Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

[Call It]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

So the Rich get Richer?! Would a student have to pay taxes on the $16,000? With budget issues at most public colleges, we might be shooting ourselves in the foot. Especially considering the next big bubble to pop is student loans!

How is it being player 19 on a team and 1-18 are now getting bonus money?

[Eeyore]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

Forgive me if this sounds ignorant but, what does "full cost of attendance" mean? If a kid is getting full ride or a 75% - 80% scholarship already how is it impacted?

This is kind of complicated. Originally, NCAA compliant athletic scholarships, defined in 1956, could include a $15/month stipend for living expenses; it was called "laundry money" as an example of the kind of thing that it was meant to cover. In the 1970s, the NCAA eliminated the stipend and so they covered nothing but tuition, room & board, and books. Then, in the 1980s, the federal government adjusted its financial aid programs and created the phrase "full cost of attendance scholarships" for things like Pell Grants and subsidized loan programs. This added categories that financial aid could cover, including a cost-of-living stipend (like the laundry money but more generous), travel from home to school for students whose parents didn't live near campus, and a number of other things.

The NCAA never adopted the full cost of attendance standard for what its scholarships were allowed to cover. That's what this legislation is changing; schools in the Power 5 conferences (Big 10; Big 12; Pac 12; SEC; ACC) are now permitted to offer scholarships valued at the full cost of attendance. Other conferences are mulling whether or not they are going to move in the same direction.

As to how it affects someone on a partial scholarship, what this does is it increases the dollar value of a full scholarship. If an athlete is on a 50% scholarship, the value of her grant goes up by 50% of the increase from the old value of the scholarship to the new value. A hockey team is permitted to allocate a total amount of scholarship dollars equal to 18 times the maximum value of each scholarship.

[Eeyore]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

So the Rich get Richer?!

It sort of depends upon how you look at it. It's equally possible to look at it from the level of the athlete and say that they are now getting all of their expenses covered.

Would a student have to pay taxes on the $16,000?

No, just as they don't currently pay taxes on the value of the scholarship they receive. That's why the NCAA legislation passed adjusts the allowable scholarship value to the federally defined full cost of scholarship. One of the purposes of that 1986 legislation was to establish what aid can be received tax free and what aid would be taxed. If the NCAA schools approved offering grants to athletes in amounts above the federal definition of full cost of attendance, then the athletes would probably have to pay taxes on the excess.

Also, I'm not sure where you came up with the $16,000 figure. The estimate is that this could raise the value of each scholarship by $2,000-$5,000 per year. There are a number of things affecting where in the range each scholarship would fall, including the cost of living on a given campus, where the student would be traveling to and from between semesters, and several school specific factors. The federal definition of "full cost of attendance" is not entirely clear cut and exactly what gets covered does vary from school to school. My understanding is that a university will need to use the same definition for its athletes that it uses for the general student body.

With budget issues at most public colleges, we might be shooting ourselves in the foot. Especially considering the next big bubble to pop is student loans!

Yes, there are definitely budget questions. I wouldn't for instance, expect UMD to start offering full cost of attendance scholarships, especially since they don't offer the maximum of what they are already allowed to.

How is it being player 19 on a team and 1-18 are now getting bonus money?

I suspect that this won't change that perspective at all.

[OldDave]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

The estimate is that this could raise the value of each scholarship by $2,000-$5,000 per year. There are a number of things affecting where in the range each scholarship would fall, including the cost of living on a given campus, where the student would be traveling to and from between semesters, and several school specific factors. The federal definition of "full cost of attendance" is not entirely clear cut and exactly what gets covered does vary from school to school. My understanding is that a university will need to use the same definition for its athletes that it uses for the general student body.

Despite the clarity of your post, I'm still stumbling over the details. I was hoping an example might help.

My favorite team is the Winona Frackettes, who have only one D1 program, the women’s hockey team. There are 24 women on the team. All 24 are on scholarship, 12 with full rides and 12 with partials. The value of a scholarship is $32,000: $12,000 tuition and fees and $20,000 other campus expenses (room and board, books, tutors, etc.). Half the partial scholarships are for $12,000, the other half are $20,000.

Eight of the women (four full scholarships and four partials) are from MN, and they all drive to and from campus at the start of the school year, for the holiday break, and at the end of the academic year. Their average travel cost is $100 one way. Two of these players (one full and one partial) have food allergies and cannot always partake at team meals. They each spend $1,800 out-of-pocket to purchase allergen-free food items per school year.

Eight of the women (four full and four partial) are from Canada, six from Ontario and 2 from Quebec. They all fly into Detroit and take a regional flight to the Rochester airport, from which they take the hourly van to campus. Their average travel cost is $1,000 one way.

Six players (three full and three partial) are from other parts of the US, two from California, two from Illinois, and one each from Michigan and New York. They all fly into Detroit and take the regional flight and van, same as the Canadians. Their average travel cost is $900 one way.

Two players are from Sweden (one full and one partial). They also fly into Detroit and take the regional flight and van. Their average travel cost is $2,500 one way, but they do not go home for the break. They need language translation services for classes that cost $1,600 total.

The student body is consistently around 8,000, of which 80% are from MN, 12% are from other states and Canada, and 8% are from overseas, primarily Pacific Rim countries. We can assume that non-scholarship costs of the hockey team members are reflective of the whole student body, with the exception that the students from the Pacific Rim have an average travel cost of $3,000 one way.

The school has committed to FCOA scholarships. How is the FCOA amount calculated and how often does the school need to recalculate it?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Eeyore]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

The school has committed to FCOA scholarships. How is the FCOA amount calculated and how often does the school need to recalculate it?

I can't tell you, because it's going to vary from one school to another. As I said, the definition under federal law is sufficiently vague that each school has to come up with its own way to calculate it. What is required is that the definition for athletes must be the same as it is for all students.

[hockeydad23]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

Does anyone know how this new concept is going to be applied to non-revenue generating sports like women's hockey? My assumption is that the "Power 5 conference" schools with women's hockey programs (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Boston College, Penn St & Ohio St) WILL have to provide the full cost of attendance scholarships to all athletes, even women's hockey players, but I have not seen that stated anywhere. If this is correct, then the 6 schools listed could use the additional monies to be offered as additional recruiting 'chips', not the Minnesota, Wisconsin or BC need that in most cases.

From this article (http://chronicle.com/article/At-Leas...ograms/229229/) the additional monies that can be offered for the 6 schools listed above are:

- BC: $1,400
- SU: $1,632
- Minnesota: $2,194
- Ohio St: $2,602
- Wisconsin: $4,316
- Penn St: $4,788

Keep in mind that these dollar amounts are spread out over a 9-month academic cycle each year.

Anyone have any more/better information?

[Eeyore]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

Most of the Big 10 schools have announced that they will provide FCOA scholarships for all athletes. I know that Minnesota is one of them that has.

[EastFan1]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

Most of the Big 10 schools have announced that they will provide FCOA scholarships for all athletes. I know that Minnesota is one of them that has.

Some others:

http://www.inforum.com/sports/und/36...ns-hockey-team

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-...130-story.html

http://www.providencejournal.com/art...ORTS/301249983

[Cali]

Some others:

http://www.inforum.com/sports/und/36...ns-hockey-team

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-...130-story.html

http://www.providencejournal.com/art...ORTS/301249983

Maybe a stupid question here, but could teams take the extra money available and just spread it out further to athletes that are not on full rides? Meaning, can a player be awarded a dollar amount, as opposed to a %? $4000 (+/-) extra x 18 scholarships is another $72000 in the budget. Could that $72k be treated as if it was another 1 1/2 scholarships?

[ARM]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

Maybe a stupid question here, but could teams take the extra money available and just spread it out further to athletes that are not on full rides?

It would seem that just as with the current scholarship rules the programs can slice the pie up how they like. If they take the "extra" amount and give it to someone else rather than somebody who is currently on a full ride, then by the new definition, that ride is no longer full, at least compared to what it could have been.

[CrazyDave]

Re: Full Cost of Attendance Scholarships

The WCHA (both the men and women) just put out a statement in support of Full Cost of Attendance scholarships.

[pakidnyc]

Maybe a stupid question here, but could teams take the extra money available and just spread it out further to athletes that are not on full rides? Meaning, can a player be awarded a dollar amount, as opposed to a %? $4000 (+/-) extra x 18 scholarships is another $72000 in the budget. Could that $72k be treated as if it was another 1 1/2 scholarships?

No. It's pro-rated like your scholarship percentage. So a full ride kid gets 100% FCOA