Legislators have toyed with the idea, and now the decision has been made to give student athletes a little extra spending money.
South Carolina will now give stipends — which are a fixed regular sum paid as a salary or allowance — to their players on scholarship. The stipend will be determined based on the full cost of attendance and the university’s financial aid office. Each school's amount will be different, but for the Gamecocks this will include 10 payments of $420.10 throughout the year.
Stipends will be awarded to the Power Five conferences including the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pacific 12. In terms of stipend size in the SEC, the Gamecocks come in sixth, awarding $4,201 to their student athletes. Tennessee ranks first offering $5,666 per year.
Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier has been one of the more vocal supporters of athlete stipends.
“They deserve a piece of the pie, we all agree, I am sure,” Spurrier said.
The extra money will help with the cost of expenses the athletes may have that are not covered by the university, like food on the weekend. In the past, student athletes have received scholarships, but for the vast majority of players, these do not cover the full cost of attendance. Scholarships cover tuition and most room and board, but often fail to cover fees such as technology and book costs.
There is always speculation on how this money will actually be spent, but Spurrier hopes some players will use it to get their families to the games or save some of it. However, he knows the money belongs to them and can be spent in whatever way each athlete chooses.
Redshirt senior offensive lineman Will Sport knows the stipend will help out in day-to-day activities.
“It’s not a crazy amount of money, but it’ll help with weekly stuff,” Sport said. “A little less money my parents have to give me basically. That’s all it has changed for me.”
Stipends give more responsibility to the players. It will be interesting to see how this might change the game throughout the year.