Dive Brief:
- Cost-of-attendance estimates at a number of colleges hosting major sports programs have spiked ahead of a new rule allowing schools to cover all of these costs through athletic scholarships.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the new rule provides colleges an incentive to inflate costs so they can offer larger scholarships, disadvantaging those schools without money to pay.
- Many schools still underestimate costs of attendance, providing prospective students an inaccurate picture of their future expenses, the Chronicle reports.
Dive Insight:
The cost of college goes far beyond the price of tuition. Students have to get to and from their campuses, pay rent and buy food, and many also need to purchase insurance. Colleges must estimate these extra expenses and report them to the federal government. The large variation among estimated costs is prompting athletic directors to negotiate new rules that would cap allowable scholarships to players at $4,000, according to The Chronicle. In the meantime, we may see considerable fluctuations in cost estimates as schools use the promise of truly full scholarships as athletic recruitment tools.