ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Student-athletes look to Pell grants to subsidize education
When he arrived at Ohio State to play football in 2002 on a full-ride scholarship, Roy Hall had never heard of a Pell Grant. He didn’t know where the extra money his teammates received every quarter came from until someone told him halfway through his freshman year.
Hall, a South Euclid, Ohio, native raised by a single mother, saw his athletic abilities and full-ride scholarship as his way to get an education debt-free. With his father not in the picture and his mother working multiple jobs just to keep their home, Hall said being a student-athlete had plenty of benefits. However, being a full-time athlete on top of a full-time student was a tradeoff.
“Student-athletes don’t have freedom,” Hall said. “We are told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, when to go, when to leave, when to wake up, when to get dressed. You’re told everything.”
That lack of freedom is seen most clearly in a student-athlete’s demanding schedule, Hall said. The inability to work a part-time job on top of practices puts financial strain on some athletes, like Hall, who were already struggling to make ends meet. Finances were often still tight at home, despite being relieved of the burden of paying for school. That’s where Hall said the Pell Grant helped him and his family.
Hall said many of his teammates at Ohio State would send their Pell Grant checks to their families to help out at home. For those that didn’t, the money went towards buying extra food, a new set of clothes or a pair of shoes. Regardless of where the money went, Hall said receiving a Pell Grant was a celebration for every recipient.
“Playing football in high school put me in a position to get a full athletic scholarship, but once you get there, having that day-to-day money on campus is the challenging part,” Hall said.
During his freshman year at Ohio State, the maximum amount a student could receive from a Pell Grant was $4,000 per academic year. Receiving a Pell grant, which one becomes eligible for based on financial need, kept some football players from having to go behind the NCAA and the school to get some extra cash, Hall said.
“What the Pell Grant does is it allows us to not have to do illegal things to make a couple extra dollars, to pay for an outfit or to pay for shoes or to pay for whatever it may be,” Hall said. “The temptation for the football player or the basketball player to sell a jersey or to take a check or cash from somebody illegally is there because they are struggling. They are struggling at home. What do you do when mom is living check-to-check, the lights aren’t on at home and you’re playing for this great university?”
When people think of student-athletes, images of game day and bronze trophies usually come to mind. So does a coveted full-ride scholarship.
The glory they hope to achieve on the field or the court is often supported in part by an athletic scholarship. The reality for many student-athletes, however, is that those scholarships do not cover all their needs. Many athletes need to rely on federal aid, such as the Pell Grant, to get by.
A Lantern analysis found that athletic scholarships are not the only form of assistance that these athletes rely on.
Nearly one in five student-athletes received a Pell Grant during the 2016-17 academic year, according to data obtained through an NCAA financial report.
During the 2016-17 academic year, 47 percent of football players were on Pell Grants at Ohio State and 64 percent of them were on full-ride athletic scholarships as well.
In the high-revenue world of college sports, why are so many student-athletes in need of federal financial aid on top of athletic scholarships to make ends meet?
“What do you do when mom is living check-to-check, the lights aren’t on at home and you’re playing for this great university?” – Roy Hall
Athletic scholarships aren’t enough
A full-ride athletic scholarship, per the NCAA, covers the cost of attendance needed for a student to attend Ohio State, said Emily Haynam, a compliance officer with Student Financial Aid.
“The cost of attendance encompasses several elements, not just tuition and fees,” Haynam said. “Room and board would be included in there, an amount allotted for books and supplies, and an amount allotted for other expenses related to the cost of attendance.”
The current cost of attendance for an in-state enrolled student living on campus is $26,706 and for off-campus students it is $25,770.
Pell Grants, because they are a form of federal aid, have no effect on how a school awards athletic scholarships, which are at the discretion of the NCAA and individual schools, said Dan Wallenberg, associate athletics director for communications at Ohio State.
Pell Grants can be used as a buffer for what is not covered by an athletic scholarship, such as groceries, car payments and personal items.
Many athletes rely on Pell Grants to get by because their athletic scholarships often don’t cover enough of their expenses, according to Sara Garcia, a higher education policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.
“What you see is scholarships that cover tuition and fees and room and board, but students still have other costs of attendance,” Garcia said.
A 2010 report by Ithaca College and a national athletes’ advocacy group found the average “full-ride scholarship” Division I athlete ends up paying an additional $2,951 annually in school-related expenses not covered by grants-in-aid.
This shortfall represents the difference between educational expenses such as tuition, fees, room and board and additional costs not covered by scholarships, from campus parking fees to calculators and textbook access codes required for classes.
Because of the demanding schedule and expectations of college athletics, Garcia said most student-athletes don’t have the opportunity to work part-time jobs or participate in work studies. Pell Grants can fill those gaps.
This discrepancy in how much scholarship money each student-athlete is awarded is in part because of how athletic scholarships are awarded. There are two different ways of distributing athletic awards: headcount sports and equivalency sports.
Headcount sports distribute a specific number of full-ride scholarships to players on a given team each year.
For example, all NCAA Division I football teams can award 85 student-athletes a full-ride scholarship. Those scholarships cannot be divided up to give more athletes scholarships. Other athletes, such as walk-ons, will be ineligible for an athletic scholarship until the following academic year after athletes vacate the program’s scholarship capacity.
In headcount sports, such as football, basketball and ice hockey, a school can award any amount to athletes and it counts as a one full scholarship, regardless of the amount.
“Even if you give them less than a full grant, they’re going to count as a full grant,” Wallenberg said. “[Ohio State doesn’t] do that and we wouldn’t let that happen because it would just be punitive to the student-athlete at that point in time.”
Equivalency scholarships are different than headcount sports in that equivalency sports allow coaches to divide a single full-ride scholarship among multiple student-athletes. The NCAA still mandates how many scholarships there are to hand out, but the individual amount given to each athlete is determined by the coaches.
For example, the NCAA allows 9.9 scholarships be available for all Division I men’s soccer teams. If a player was allotted half of the cost of attendance by his coach, that player accounts for half, or 0.5, of a scholarship from the total 9.9 scholarships available. Same goes if a player is offered a quarter of a scholarship, that would count as 0.25 and go into the total 9.9 equivalency scholarships.
The amount of these scholarships will differ depending on if the athletes are in-state or out-of-state, due to tuition fees varying, but the proportion would remain the same.
“They can have partials and portions, but they can’t go over that 9.9 in their general allotment. Each coach is different in how they awarded their scholarships and their percentages,” Wallenberg said. “It could be based solely on their athletic ability, it could be athletics and academics, it could be contribution to the team.”
Since these scholarships are split among several athletes, full scholarships are rarely offered to every athlete who play on equivalency-scholarship sports. This can pose a problem for athletes who aren’t on a full-ride scholarship.
For example, there are 40 student-athletes on the Ohio State men’s track and field team. Because track and field is an equivalency sport, there are only 12.6 scholarships available, per the NCAA. While it’s possible that each athlete can receive a portion of a scholarship, there’s no way that every student-athlete could receive a full-ride scholarship under this model.
With 21 members, just over half of the track and field team is on a Pell Grant.
Ebtire article: https://www.thelantern.com/2018/05/student-athletes-look-to-pell-grants-to-subsidize-education/
When he arrived at Ohio State to play football in 2002 on a full-ride scholarship, Roy Hall had never heard of a Pell Grant. He didn’t know where the extra money his teammates received every quarter came from until someone told him halfway through his freshman year.
Hall, a South Euclid, Ohio, native raised by a single mother, saw his athletic abilities and full-ride scholarship as his way to get an education debt-free. With his father not in the picture and his mother working multiple jobs just to keep their home, Hall said being a student-athlete had plenty of benefits. However, being a full-time athlete on top of a full-time student was a tradeoff.
“Student-athletes don’t have freedom,” Hall said. “We are told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, when to go, when to leave, when to wake up, when to get dressed. You’re told everything.”
That lack of freedom is seen most clearly in a student-athlete’s demanding schedule, Hall said. The inability to work a part-time job on top of practices puts financial strain on some athletes, like Hall, who were already struggling to make ends meet. Finances were often still tight at home, despite being relieved of the burden of paying for school. That’s where Hall said the Pell Grant helped him and his family.
Hall said many of his teammates at Ohio State would send their Pell Grant checks to their families to help out at home. For those that didn’t, the money went towards buying extra food, a new set of clothes or a pair of shoes. Regardless of where the money went, Hall said receiving a Pell Grant was a celebration for every recipient.
“Playing football in high school put me in a position to get a full athletic scholarship, but once you get there, having that day-to-day money on campus is the challenging part,” Hall said.
During his freshman year at Ohio State, the maximum amount a student could receive from a Pell Grant was $4,000 per academic year. Receiving a Pell grant, which one becomes eligible for based on financial need, kept some football players from having to go behind the NCAA and the school to get some extra cash, Hall said.
“What the Pell Grant does is it allows us to not have to do illegal things to make a couple extra dollars, to pay for an outfit or to pay for shoes or to pay for whatever it may be,” Hall said. “The temptation for the football player or the basketball player to sell a jersey or to take a check or cash from somebody illegally is there because they are struggling. They are struggling at home. What do you do when mom is living check-to-check, the lights aren’t on at home and you’re playing for this great university?”
When people think of student-athletes, images of game day and bronze trophies usually come to mind. So does a coveted full-ride scholarship.
The glory they hope to achieve on the field or the court is often supported in part by an athletic scholarship. The reality for many student-athletes, however, is that those scholarships do not cover all their needs. Many athletes need to rely on federal aid, such as the Pell Grant, to get by.
A Lantern analysis found that athletic scholarships are not the only form of assistance that these athletes rely on.
Nearly one in five student-athletes received a Pell Grant during the 2016-17 academic year, according to data obtained through an NCAA financial report.
During the 2016-17 academic year, 47 percent of football players were on Pell Grants at Ohio State and 64 percent of them were on full-ride athletic scholarships as well.
In the high-revenue world of college sports, why are so many student-athletes in need of federal financial aid on top of athletic scholarships to make ends meet?
“What do you do when mom is living check-to-check, the lights aren’t on at home and you’re playing for this great university?” – Roy Hall
Athletic scholarships aren’t enough
A full-ride athletic scholarship, per the NCAA, covers the cost of attendance needed for a student to attend Ohio State, said Emily Haynam, a compliance officer with Student Financial Aid.
“The cost of attendance encompasses several elements, not just tuition and fees,” Haynam said. “Room and board would be included in there, an amount allotted for books and supplies, and an amount allotted for other expenses related to the cost of attendance.”
The current cost of attendance for an in-state enrolled student living on campus is $26,706 and for off-campus students it is $25,770.
Pell Grants, because they are a form of federal aid, have no effect on how a school awards athletic scholarships, which are at the discretion of the NCAA and individual schools, said Dan Wallenberg, associate athletics director for communications at Ohio State.
Pell Grants can be used as a buffer for what is not covered by an athletic scholarship, such as groceries, car payments and personal items.
Many athletes rely on Pell Grants to get by because their athletic scholarships often don’t cover enough of their expenses, according to Sara Garcia, a higher education policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.
“What you see is scholarships that cover tuition and fees and room and board, but students still have other costs of attendance,” Garcia said.
A 2010 report by Ithaca College and a national athletes’ advocacy group found the average “full-ride scholarship” Division I athlete ends up paying an additional $2,951 annually in school-related expenses not covered by grants-in-aid.
This shortfall represents the difference between educational expenses such as tuition, fees, room and board and additional costs not covered by scholarships, from campus parking fees to calculators and textbook access codes required for classes.
Because of the demanding schedule and expectations of college athletics, Garcia said most student-athletes don’t have the opportunity to work part-time jobs or participate in work studies. Pell Grants can fill those gaps.
This discrepancy in how much scholarship money each student-athlete is awarded is in part because of how athletic scholarships are awarded. There are two different ways of distributing athletic awards: headcount sports and equivalency sports.
Headcount sports distribute a specific number of full-ride scholarships to players on a given team each year.
For example, all NCAA Division I football teams can award 85 student-athletes a full-ride scholarship. Those scholarships cannot be divided up to give more athletes scholarships. Other athletes, such as walk-ons, will be ineligible for an athletic scholarship until the following academic year after athletes vacate the program’s scholarship capacity.
In headcount sports, such as football, basketball and ice hockey, a school can award any amount to athletes and it counts as a one full scholarship, regardless of the amount.
“Even if you give them less than a full grant, they’re going to count as a full grant,” Wallenberg said. “[Ohio State doesn’t] do that and we wouldn’t let that happen because it would just be punitive to the student-athlete at that point in time.”
Equivalency scholarships are different than headcount sports in that equivalency sports allow coaches to divide a single full-ride scholarship among multiple student-athletes. The NCAA still mandates how many scholarships there are to hand out, but the individual amount given to each athlete is determined by the coaches.
For example, the NCAA allows 9.9 scholarships be available for all Division I men’s soccer teams. If a player was allotted half of the cost of attendance by his coach, that player accounts for half, or 0.5, of a scholarship from the total 9.9 scholarships available. Same goes if a player is offered a quarter of a scholarship, that would count as 0.25 and go into the total 9.9 equivalency scholarships.
The amount of these scholarships will differ depending on if the athletes are in-state or out-of-state, due to tuition fees varying, but the proportion would remain the same.
“They can have partials and portions, but they can’t go over that 9.9 in their general allotment. Each coach is different in how they awarded their scholarships and their percentages,” Wallenberg said. “It could be based solely on their athletic ability, it could be athletics and academics, it could be contribution to the team.”
Since these scholarships are split among several athletes, full scholarships are rarely offered to every athlete who play on equivalency-scholarship sports. This can pose a problem for athletes who aren’t on a full-ride scholarship.
For example, there are 40 student-athletes on the Ohio State men’s track and field team. Because track and field is an equivalency sport, there are only 12.6 scholarships available, per the NCAA. While it’s possible that each athlete can receive a portion of a scholarship, there’s no way that every student-athlete could receive a full-ride scholarship under this model.
With 21 members, just over half of the track and field team is on a Pell Grant.
Ebtire article: https://www.thelantern.com/2018/05/student-athletes-look-to-pell-grants-to-subsidize-education/
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), and resented the fact that his school made $250,000 off college football, which was a $40 million business nationally. Another school had to kick a ringer off their team, since he was past his 4 years of eligibility.