Tuesday afternoon in Destin, Fla., where the SEC’s annual spring meetings are held, was not the first time Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked about cost of attendance. And Tuesday afternoon in Destin was also not the first time Saban provided a passionate answer on the ever-so hot topic in the world of college football.

Nick Saban has a strong opinion when it comes to cost of attendance.

Back on May 12, before Saban’s fourth Crimson Caravan stop in Atlanta, the head coach touched on his program’s approach to cost of attendance, saying the Crimson Tide had yet to establish what it will offer its student-athletes.

But according to an estimated list of cost of attendance scholarships for Power 5 schools from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Alabama is projected as the 10th of 14 SEC schools, offering an additional $2,892 to players.

The fact that there are lists that project the different amounts schools can offer is why Saban was asked about the widely-discussed topic. It is also why the coach believes cost of attendance will be one of the main subjects in the SEC athletic directors’ discussions in Destin this week.

“Even in the NFL, they have a salary cap,” Saban said Tuesday. “If you can’t create a system that really almost could promote fraud, because every institution should do a good job of saying this is what our cost of attendance is.

“But when we don’t have a cap that makes it equal for everyone it really is going to go against all the things that we tried to do in the NCAA, in terms of having parity for players, in terms of what their scholarship is, what you’re allowed to give them. This is an issue, to me, that is completely different than anything else that we’ve had to deal with.

“Now, I’m all for the players getting more. I always have been, I’ve always promoted it, I’ve always been for it. I still think that’s important that we improve the quality a lot. I just think there’s some unforeseen consequences of this that may affect the competitive balance that we’ve always worked very hard to try to keep relative to college football.”

Would Saban – and the SEC’s athletic directors – like to see transparency for all schools across the country?

“I think if we’re going to do this, somebody’s got to make sure that it’s been – I just said, you don’t want to have a system that sort of enhances people having any kind of fraudulent behavior that would create an advantage for themselves,” Saban said. “I think it’s really important that we all have the same criteria and nothing can be used to create an advantaged, and I guess the best way to do that would be transparency.”

The one area where a larger stipend would give schools a distinct advantage is on the recruiting trail. A larger sum of money could undoubtedly persuade a high school student to attend a university over a program that offered less.

But Saban told reporters that recruits have not mentioned cost of attendance much to him – at least not yet.

“We haven’t had a lot of that yet,” Saban said. “We know some people are promoting it in recruiting. But we have not done that, and the way I understand it is institutionally, from an academic standpoint, which is still the reason we all have universities and colleges, is that it’s in the university’s best interest to keep the cost of attendance low. And I think that should be the first priority from an institutional standpoint, not really what’s better from an athletic standpoint.

“But I don’t really have a vote in this. This is something that will get determined at the administrative level, which is where, from an educational standpoint, it should be.”

*** Quotes were obtained from a live Periscope broadcast of Saban's press conference provided by Clay Travis.

For more news on Alabama sports and recruiting, follow BamaOnLine on Twitter.