The hotly debated issue of cost of attendance was discussed during an executive session of the SEC’s athletic directors’ meeting at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel on Wednesday. But according to those who were there, it lasted all of “about three minutes.”
That’s because it is such a complex issue and there are still so many unresolved circumstances surrounding it, including the outcome of the ongoing Ed O’Bannon vs. the NCAA case. So while there are a lot of opinions about it, the SEC hasn’t gotten to the point that it can wrestle the details to the ground.
“We talked very briefly about it,” Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity said afterward. “It’s a topic of discussion anytime we meet. But we didn’t get into any detail. There’s no update, so to speak.”
The “Power 5 Conferences” — the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 — voted in January to provide “cost of attendance” scholarships for their athletes. But what exactly that might look like remains confusing for everybody involved.
Cost of attendance is independently calculated among the nation’s colleges and universities, and how they arrive at those figures varies. It is a federally regulated number and determines how much money students and/or their parents can borrow from banks to fund their education.
Those figures are listed on school’s websites. For instance, UGA calculates that it will cost a Georgia resident $22,680 per academic year to attend, or $40,890 for an out-of-state student. That figure includes tuition and fees, residence hall/lodging, seven-day meal plan and books.
Most of that is covered by the “full scholarship” athletes have always received. But where it gets tricky is in the area of “supplies and living expenses” and travel to and from home. That’s where some disparities already are developing.
Auburn AD Jay Jacobs ruffled some feathers within the league when he came out in an article in USA Today last month and said “the cost-of-attendance benefit” for Auburn athletes likely will be in the neighborhood of $6,000 per year, with an additional $1,500 if they enroll in summer school. That number is more than twice what most schools are reported to be considering. And Jacobs was not bashful about his intentions of using that as a recruiting inducement.
“Certainly having a higher number than most in the Southeastern Conference is going to be helpful (in recruiting),” Jacobs told USA Today. “Having the lowest number in the SEC could be hurtful. The way we recruit and the quality of student-athlete we want, we hope that number isn’t a deciding factor, but human nature says it could be depending on the circumstances.”
Jacobs didn’t back away from those comments when asked about them after the Nashville meeting Wednesday.
“I just like the approach we have, which is taking care of our student-athletes,” Jacobs said. “But as far as the conference goes, we still have a lot of work to do to vet that out.”
McGarity doesn’t necessarily agree with Jacobs’ calculations, but he doesn’t begrudge the rival schools’ tactics.
“Look, there are inequities in college athletics right now from school to school,” he said. “You have different-sized stadiums, locker rooms, campuses, everything. Everything’s different. This is just one item that has caught everyone’s attention across the country because it deals with dollars toward student-athletes in an area that’s never been relevant before. We’ve always had the full scholarship, but I just think this a complex issue that everyone’s trying to get their hands around. We’ll learn more as we go.”
One thing all ADs can agree on — this is going to be an expensive proposition. Scheduled to go into effect in late August when the fall semesters begin, the cost-of-attendance expense will have to be figured into schools’ 2015-16 budgets, which will need to be approved in late spring.
On March 6, Florida State’s AD Stan Wilcox told the school’s board of trustees that expenses will rise by about $2 million per year as a result of cost of attendance. To make ends meet, he is instituting a 2 percent across-the-board budget cut in athletics.
Jacobs — whose athletic department lost $13 million dollars last year — also predicts the added expense to be in the range of $2 million annually. McGarity said UGA still hasn’t arrived at a final figure, but would allow that it “will be in excess of $1 million, for sure.”
Whatever the expense, it is unlikely that the SEC’s membership will agree on what the benefit should be. And ADs think it will be hard for the conference to step in and regulate.
“I don’t think it can be mandated or standardized,” McGarity said. “It is a federal calculation that is different on every campus. It’s something that’s just very difficult for us to get our hands around right now.”
Said Jacobs: “We haven’t even gotten into all that. There are a lot of federal complexities to it, and each institution calculates it differently. We’re just trying to make sure we have something in place.”
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