CSU’s student-athletes will receive stipends to cover the full cost of attendance starting in the fall.
The NCAA recently voted to provide student-athletes with stipends to cover expenses like travel, school supplies and phone service. The stipends are based on a formula set by federal financial aid guidelines, unique to each campus. Set by the CSU Financial Aid Office using those federal guidelines, CSU will provide approximately $2,400 annually for an in-state full scholarship student-athlete and approximately $3,100 for an out-of-state full scholarship student-athlete.
CSU Athletics currently offers the maximum allotment of 214.1 scholarships based on the 16 sports it sponsors for intercollegiate athletics. Sports offering full scholarships – football, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s tennis – will offer student-athletes full stipends, while student-athletes receiving aid in other sports will receive stipends in direct proportion to the amount of aid they receive.
“For decades, a full scholarship has been defined as tuition, room, board, books and fees,” said CSU director of athletics Joe Parker. “The demands to balance academics and athletics have grown over that period. Most of our students simply do not have time to engage in part-time or summer employment to supplement the costs of their education. The new stipend is important and helps to address the incidental expenses associated with attending CSU.”
In January, CSU opened a nutrition center in Moby Arena – it’s called the fueling station – for student-athletes to grab meals and snacks between classes or workouts incidental to practice and competition.
Excellence on, off the court/field
The nutrition center and the added stipends should help CSU student-athletes continue to compete at a high level. CSU led the nation during 2014-15 with the highest combined winning percentage in football, volleyball and man’s and women’s basketball.
But the Rams were doing more than just winning games and competing for championships. The cumulative grade-point average of 3.145 and the term GPA of 3.096 by CSU’s student-athletes in the Fall 2014 term were the highest since records were first tracked in 2006.
CSU is one of several Mountain West schools to offer stipends for its student-athletes. Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State, Fresno State and New Mexico have already announced plans to provide the stipends, with other conference schools expected to follow.
