Players receive no scholarships other than financial aid, and they typically pay a fee to play. Depending on the level of support they receive from the university and student services, that fee can range from a couple of hundred dollars per player to a few thousand. It is used to pay for coaches, ice time and travel.

Just traveling to the national tournament was an ordeal for many teams. Central Oklahoma spent 26 straight hours on a bus.

“It cost us $13,000 just to get here,” Coach Craig McAlister said.

Asked where the money came from, he mentioned the $1,700 fee each player had to pay, as well as money the team raised by selling advertisements in programs and on the boards at its home rink.

“All the little things,” he said. “Plus, we don’t buy something new every year.”

Of the Central Oklahoma team’s $90,000 budget, $60,000 is eaten up by bus costs, McAlister said. The only money the program received from the university this year was a $9,000 allocation from student fees, with an extra $4,000 granted to defray costs once the team made the national tournament.

Arizona State’s budget is $250,000, used largely on travel and ice time. The university contributes $10,000 to the program, with the rest coming from fund-raising and a $3,200 fee for each player.

“They get treated, and this is run, like an N.C.A.A. Division I program,” Coach Greg Powers said. “And we expect that kind of professionalism back from our players.”