RICHMOND, Va. — Many local college athletes will have some extra spending money this semester thanks to newly enacted NCAA rules.
This school year marks the start of a new cost-of-attendance stipend that Division I student athletes can receive on top of full or partial scholarships.
VCU and the University of Richmond are among the schools that are providing the stipends, starting this month, prompting them to take different approaches in the amount they pay their players and how they’ll cover the additional costs to their athletic budgets.
The additional assistance, approved earlier this year by the NCAA, is meant to cover costs of attending college beyond what’s calculated into a scholarship. Where scholarships typically cover tuition, fees, books, and room and board, the stipends are meant to go toward personal expenses, such as clothes and travel.
The stipends can range from about $1,000 to $5,000 or more, depending on the school, which can tailor how it awards them according to federal financial aid standards. Some schools, such as Old Dominion University in Norfolk, have said they will not provide stipends this school year.
VCU and UR are both providing cost-of-attendance stipends for men’s and women’s basketball players with scholarships. VCU plans to give basketball players on full scholarships more than $4,100, and UR will hand out $1,300 stipends to its full-scholarship basketball players
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