FBS Continues to Deny Academic Aid to Student-Athletes

Less than 30% of FBS Schools to Provide Academic Bonus Payments to Student-Athletes

With the Alston decision changing the game for NCAA athletes, now is one of the first times in history where each school gets to make their own decisions on how they manage their finances. Famously governed by association, division, or conference, schools rarely had to worry about how their independent decisions would affect their main recruiting pools until now. While there is an argument to be made about schools needing more time to budget for academic aid and COVID affecting budgets, the knowledge that this opportunity exists has been clear for over 20 months now. Schools like Virginia Tech and Michigan had plenty of wiggle room in their budgets to manage their football coaching contracts, but can’t seem to find the cash to support student-athletes for excelling both on the field and in the classroom.In my opinion, this number will gradually rise over the next two years to include most FBS schools. I also imagine the process will expedite itself when coaches start to see recruiting trends favor the schools that are willing to reward their student-athletes, for fear of missing out on a competitive recruiting class. Of course, I’m speaking primarily through the lens of FBS football because their decisions dictate the vast majority of the athletic department’s decisions. One notable contrarian is UConn, who is only awarding their men’s and women’s basketball teams with academic incentives rather than providing that opportunity to all student-athletes.In some cases, like at Iowa State, players’ incentives are held by the university and only released when the student-athlete graduates. While I’m generally not in favor of withholding pay in any capacity, I do commend Iowa State for at least presenting an option that incentivizes their student-athletes to stay and graduate college.  All in all, there’s an almost nostalgic level of irony about this situation. College athletes are finally able to make money after the NCAA claimed for years that it would mar the ethos of “student first” mentalities. Now we’re able to reward college athletes for embracing their student side, and universities have chosen to use that money to buy out coaching contracts instead.