Ramogi Huma, President of the National College Players Association (formerly Collegiate Athletes Coalition), has been pounding the pavement to improve student-athletes’ rights.  One of the primary matters of concern for Mr. Huma and the National College Players Association (“NCPA”) has been to increase the awareness of athletics-based scholarships and the perceived shortfall between full grant-in-aid[1] and cost of attendance.[2]  NCPA played a contributing role, along with help from the United Steelworkers, in White v. NCAA and the Student-Athletes’ Right to Know Act that was recently signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in California.

NCPA recently partnered with Ithaca College’s Department of Sport Management and Media to conduct a study titled An Examination of Financial Shortfall for Athletes on Full Scholarship at NCAA Division I Institutions.  The study examined the gap (or shortfall as termed by the study) between the cost of attendance at each NCAA Division I institution and the amount covered by full grant-in-aid.  In performing the study, the researchers accessed the cost of attendance at each of the 336 NCAA Division I institutions and ultimately ranked each institution based on the additional amounts a student-athlete would have to pay to attend an institution.  The study determined the average gap (or shortfall) for all 336 NCAA Division I institutions is $2,763.00 per year with some student-athletes experiencing a gap of approximately $30,000.00 over a 5 year period.

The NCPA Web site provides a tool where anyone can put in the name of an institution and the Web site will provide a ranking of how the institution compares to other institutions and the estimated out-of-pocket expenses for any given institution.  To see how institutions compare click on this link.