....Interesting.
Updated: October 24, 2011, 6:19 PM ET
NCAA pushes $2K increase for athletes
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- NCAA president Mark Emmert backed a proposal to allow conferences to increase grants to student athletes by $2,000, "to more closely approach" the full cost of attending college, beyond the athletic scholarships athletes receive for tuition, fees, room, board and books.
Emmert told the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics on Monday that the proposal will be finalized this week and he'll ask the NCAA Division I Board of Directors to support it at their meeting Thursday. He noted that student athletes have limited opportunities to work outside the classroom and playing fields, and that the current model of athletic scholarship hasn't changed for 40 years.
Emmert says he'll also ask the board to allow colleges and universities to provide multiyear grants, instead of year-to-year scholarships.
"We are going to create a model that would allow -- probably ... up to $2,000 in addition to" tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies.
Emmert said he expected all of the Bowl Championship Series conferences to adopt it -- at least those six that get automatic bids to BCS bowl games -- because they have the revenue stream to afford it.
"Will schools underneath that?" he asked. "I don't know. So you don't want to put a conference or a school in a position with a mandatory expense, and the only way to pay for it is to cut scholarships."
One university president on a later panel said he opposed the proposal. Boise State president Robert Kustra urged supporters of the plan to look at the support that Division I student athletes receive, and compare it to "the rest of our students, who are making minimum wage, collecting tips, trying to find their way into their next semester at the university ... Go back and examine the life of a student athlete in intercollegiate sports in America today, and see how privileged they are to be where they are and the opportunities they have."
Kustra also warned that the proposal will give some schools a competitive advantage over others.
"You just heard president Emmert say that some conferences will, some conferences won't. Well gee, I wonder who will, and I wonder who won't," he said to laughter. "I think I know the answer to that. The haves will, and the have-nots will try -- I'll try -- but many will not be able to. And so what you're doing, then, is fueling a little bit more of this BCS/anti-BCS debate." Bosie State belongs to the Mountain West Conference, which does not receive an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game.
Another panelist, LSU chancellor Michael Martin, said in an interview after the meeting that he was undecided on the proposal.
"I think institutions like us could clearly afford it," he said. "I'm not sure all can. Also right now, we're very sensitive on our campus to the fact that the faculty have gone three years without any salary adjustment. And then to say that every student athlete gets $2,000 at the same time that we may have to go another year without one, only builds up that tension between faculty leadership and the administration and athletics. So I want to think carefully about the unintended consequences of expanding additional resources on athletes at a time when the rest of the institution has been so heavily taxed by budget cuts."
NCAA weighing $2,000 payments to student athletes - ESPN
Updated: October 24, 2011, 6:19 PM ET
NCAA pushes $2K increase for athletes
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- NCAA president Mark Emmert backed a proposal to allow conferences to increase grants to student athletes by $2,000, "to more closely approach" the full cost of attending college, beyond the athletic scholarships athletes receive for tuition, fees, room, board and books.
Emmert told the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics on Monday that the proposal will be finalized this week and he'll ask the NCAA Division I Board of Directors to support it at their meeting Thursday. He noted that student athletes have limited opportunities to work outside the classroom and playing fields, and that the current model of athletic scholarship hasn't changed for 40 years.
Emmert says he'll also ask the board to allow colleges and universities to provide multiyear grants, instead of year-to-year scholarships.
"We are going to create a model that would allow -- probably ... up to $2,000 in addition to" tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies.
Emmert said he expected all of the Bowl Championship Series conferences to adopt it -- at least those six that get automatic bids to BCS bowl games -- because they have the revenue stream to afford it.
"Will schools underneath that?" he asked. "I don't know. So you don't want to put a conference or a school in a position with a mandatory expense, and the only way to pay for it is to cut scholarships."
One university president on a later panel said he opposed the proposal. Boise State president Robert Kustra urged supporters of the plan to look at the support that Division I student athletes receive, and compare it to "the rest of our students, who are making minimum wage, collecting tips, trying to find their way into their next semester at the university ... Go back and examine the life of a student athlete in intercollegiate sports in America today, and see how privileged they are to be where they are and the opportunities they have."
Kustra also warned that the proposal will give some schools a competitive advantage over others.
"You just heard president Emmert say that some conferences will, some conferences won't. Well gee, I wonder who will, and I wonder who won't," he said to laughter. "I think I know the answer to that. The haves will, and the have-nots will try -- I'll try -- but many will not be able to. And so what you're doing, then, is fueling a little bit more of this BCS/anti-BCS debate." Bosie State belongs to the Mountain West Conference, which does not receive an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game.
Another panelist, LSU chancellor Michael Martin, said in an interview after the meeting that he was undecided on the proposal.
"I think institutions like us could clearly afford it," he said. "I'm not sure all can. Also right now, we're very sensitive on our campus to the fact that the faculty have gone three years without any salary adjustment. And then to say that every student athlete gets $2,000 at the same time that we may have to go another year without one, only builds up that tension between faculty leadership and the administration and athletics. So I want to think carefully about the unintended consequences of expanding additional resources on athletes at a time when the rest of the institution has been so heavily taxed by budget cuts."
NCAA weighing $2,000 payments to student athletes - ESPN
