Pay to play? UL looks to fund full attendance stipend for athletes

When schools from the NCAA's Power Five conferences — the SEC, the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the Pac-12 — voted last month to give student-athletes a full cost of attendance stipend on top of grant-in-aid scholarship money already received, they left it up to those from Group of Five conferences to decide for themselves if they'd do the same.

When it all comes out in the wash, what some might deem laundry money — extra cash in the pockets of student-athletes to cover personal travel and incidentals — is no cheap proposition.

In fact, doing so in full could cost the University of Louisiana at Lafayette — a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which is a Group of Five league along with Conference USA, the Mountain West, the MAC and the AAC — more than $1.2 million per year.

Where will the money come from?

For an athletic program like the Ragin' Cajuns', which battles daily to make ends meet with a budget in the $21.5 million-range last fiscal year, there are no easy answers. But the call is theirs as to whether they're willing to try to keep up with the big boys — and others from the Group of Five who intend to do the same.

"It won't require any further voting," Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson said.

"It will be up to each individual university to determine at what level will they add on to the existing grant-in-aid scholarship.

"It's permissible right now," Benson added, "for UL Lafayette to go down that path, and do anything they wish up to the full cost of attendance."

So what will the Cajuns do?

They're going for it.

"We already know we're going to be one of the schools that does give a cost of attendance (stipend)," UL head football coach Mark Hudspeth said.

"You have to be able say we're doing it in order to remain competitive, because that's exactly what it's getting to," UL athletic director Scott Farmer added. "That's exactly what's sitting in living rooms with the potential student-athlete or the moms and dads (during recruiting). … They know it's coming. It's getting to that. So, yeah, in order to remain competitive we're gonna have to."

Just what is full cost of attendance?

Starting Aug. 1, schools can provide to student-athletes financial compensation — as part of full scholarships — that more accurately reflects the actual cost of going to college, as defined by the federal government and calculated by individual financial aid offices.

It applies to all student-athletes regardless of sport, and for those not on full scholarship it would be applied on a prorated basis.

According to the NCAA: "Now, in addition to tuition, fees, books, and room and board, the scholarship will also include expenses such as academic-related supplies, transportation and other similar items. The value of those benefits can differ from campus to campus."

"It also includes some expense money for supplies and laundry, traveling back and forth home — that's the where the difference can come in," Farmer said.

Hudspeth appreciates the decision by UL's administration to pay full cost of attendance, especially since not all Group of Five schools have decided to do so yet.

"It just shows their commitment to what we're doing — commitment to our student-athletes' well-being, to make sure that they have all the resources necessary," he said.

For UL, that will mean an extra $5,888 per student-athlete per year on top of a scholarship valued at roughly $18,000 to in-state students and $26,000-plus for out-of-state students.

With approximately 212 scholarships spread over the school's various athletic programs, it amounts to $1,248,256.

"That's a lot of money," Farmer said.

Which, again, prompts the question:

How will UL — which also happens to be in the silent phase of fundraising efforts to support an athletic facilities master plan capital campaign, and part of a state system searching high and low for ways to cut costs — come up with the cash?

Farmer has been busy lately discussing that very question with his coaches.

"Either we're gonna raise an extra $1.2 million," he said, "or we're gonna deduct expenses (by) $1.2 million.

"I don't know what it's gonna turn out," Farmer added. "I'm just saying there are huge options out there."

Trimming the number of students who attend summer school, Farmer suggested, is one.

Reducing staff, he added, is another.

"There are different options," he said, "and right now I don't like any of them, to be honest with you. But, it's a budget — and you've got to balance it."

Not paying full cost of attendance simply is not one of those options for UL.

"No," Farmer said. "We're not gonna do that — because we want to remain competitive. … We definitely are gonna remain competitive with whatever decision we make."

UL's reasoning amounts to this:

How could it possibly win a recruiting battle — against another from the Sun Belt, for instance; another from another Group of Conference, like Louisiana Tech of Conference; and even ones from Power Five conferences, which UL's football program seems to be going head-to-head with more and more lately — if the programs it is fighting are willing to offer full cost of attendance, but it is not?

"No question," said Hudspeth, whose team has had four straight 9-4 seasons, won four straight New Orleans Bowls and had four straight recruiting classes ranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt by Scout.com.

"If we're gonna continue growing as a program, and growing as an institution, and remain competitive, and take another step, we have to do it. That would be a step back if we didn't."

Some student-athletes, obviously, need cost of attendance money more than others.

Not all are even fully aware that a plan is in place for them to receive it, but everyone — including Cajun baseball players Gunner Leger and Joe Robbins — is bound to be happy to get it.

"It will be put to good use," Leger said.

"It's always nice to get something to put in your pocket after a road trip or something," Robbins added. "But we're not focused on the money that we get in our pockets. We're focused on coming out here and playing baseball and winning games."

A NEW EXPENSE

A look at how UL's decision to pay the NCAA-approved full cost of attendance stipend to student-athletes on top of usual grant-in-aid scholarships will impact the Ragin' Cajuns financially:

Annual cost per student-athlete: $5,888

Approximate number of full scholarships, all sports: 212

Extra annual expense to budget: $1,248,256

UL's 2013-14 fiscal year athletic expenses: $21,542,643