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Mid-Majors Faced With Cost-Of-Attendance Decisions, Funding Questions

The expense of providing athletes with cost-of-attendance benefits "may force administrators at mid-major schools to make some difficult decisions," according to Mike Herndon of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. The increases to athletic scholarships approved by the Power 5 conferences "could cost many schools in the neighborhood" of $1M. South Alabama AD Joel Erdmann said, "That's a large sum of money that we're going to have to figure out how we're going to manage it." While FBS schools "can decide not to fund the cost-of-attendance increases, the cost of that decision would likely be felt on the recruiting trail." Schools also are "left to determine for themselves to what extent they plan to furnish the additional money, however -- whether it's just for certain sports, just for student-athletes on full scholarship or divvied up in some other way." Troy AD John Hartwell said, "In a perfect world, you're going to go find additional revenue sources to be able to take care of it, which is easier said than done in a lot of cases. But I also think we've got to be creative in how we look at it." He added that one solution "may be dividing up cost-of-attendance stipends among players much like baseball and softball programs have to divide up scholarships." Hartwell: "But, especially with the landscape of the NCAA today and the number of lawsuits out there, the first thing this whole cost-of-attendance thing does is scream, 'Hey, if you don't fund it in an equitable manner, you're going to have potential Title IX issues.'" Herndon noted athletic departments "may have to make tough decisions in order to fund the cost-of-attendance increases." If the ideal scenario of raising additional funding "isn't workable, the other option is to cut expenses in other areas -- and one option is to cut programs altogether" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 4/15).

THE AMERICAN WAY: East Carolina AD Jeff Compher on Wednesday announced plans to "fund the entire cost of attendance for all sports teams." In North Carolina, Nathan Summers noted the two-year blueprint "aims to match what teams in the Power Five ... can offer in terms of benefits to student-athletes." Members of the ECU football team and men’s and women’s basketball teams "will have their entire cost of attendance paid for by the university beginning Aug. 1." All of the school’s 19 teams "will get some benefit beginning then, but the long-term goal is to have all teams fully funded" by the start of the '16 sports calendar. The stipend in ECU’s case "amounts to an allowance of $4,025 on top of traditional annual scholarship funds" (Greenville DAILY REFLECTOR, 4/16). Tulsa AD Derrick Gragg said that the school has "finalized its student-athlete cost of attendance figure at $2,500 per year." In Tulsa, John Hoover noted TU athletes in full-scholarship sports -- football, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball -- "will receive the full $2,500 each year they receive athletic aid." Athletes in partial-scholarship sports "will receive a percentage of the $2,500 figure equivalent to the percentage of athletic aid they have agreed upon with their coach" (TULSA WORLD, 4/16).

GIVE ME, LIBERTY: USA TODAY's Dan Wolken noted Liberty's announcement this week that it will "offer full cost of attendance scholarships for all 20 sports including football" -- the first FCS program to do so -- is "a potential game-changer for the school and maybe even" all of D-I. Liberty's desire to move up from the FCS to the FBS "has been the worst-kept secret in college sports over the past few years." Liberty's cost of attendance announcement "is timely," as Conference USA is "likely going to decide in the next few months whether it will allow UAB to remain in the league after dropping football, which could potentially open a spot in that league or the Sun Belt if it gets poached by C-USA." Liberty is "in a unique financial position among schools with similar athletic programs, and president Jerry Falwell, Jr. is committed to doing whatever it takes to make them attractive to FBS" (USA TODAY, 4/16).

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