Virginia Tech using COA money to add more scholarships to baseball program

[Shockerman]

The slippery slope has started. Curious what your thoughts are on this....


"The Hokies baseball team is using the cost-of-attendance money to put more athletes on scholarship instead of paying out the stipend proportionally to its current players, coach Pat Mason said after practice Wednesday. Mason said Tech has been able to go from 22 players on at least some part of a scholarship during last season up to 26"

http://m.richmond.com/sports/college/baseball/article_4cbf794f-d20c-5384-8695-2713740d1e33.html?mode=jqm

[ShockTalk]

The slippery slope has started. Curious what your thoughts are on this....


"The Hokies baseball team is using the cost-of-attendance money to put more athletes on scholarship instead of paying out the stipend proportionally to its current players, coach Pat Mason said after practice Wednesday. Mason said Tech has been able to go from 22 players on at least some part of a scholarship during last season up to 26"

http://m.richmond.com/sports/college....html?mode=jqm

Clickable.

[Shockerman]

Thanks!

[ShockTalk]

You can have up to 27 on some percentage 25% or greater. If divided evenly, that would be 43.33% of a scholarship for 27 student ballplayers.

The "value" of each scholarship has increased with the COA, so, if I'm thinking this through right, a student previously on a 25% scholarship could still be at 25% and that value would have to be greater. However, to make this work, they are taking students receiving greater than 25% and reducing their % (it would still need to be a minimum 25%) so that they are receiving the same dollar amount now that they were before.

I don't see a problem with this. They are not exceeding any limits on number of scholarships or those that can receive at least part of one.

How a coach handles these scholarships and percentages is up to the coach and either way he does it could be a problem for him.


Edit: There are 11.7 scholarships available to divide among 27 student athletes.

[Shockerman]

Doesn't this go against the "spirit" of the legislation? In theory I don't have a problem with it as it helps to give these young men a higher percentage of a scholarship, However it skews the balance of power even further to the schools that can afford it.

[ShockTalk]

Doesn't this go against the "spirit" of the legislation? In theory I don't have a problem with it as it helps to give these young men a higher percentage of a scholarship, However it skews the balance of power even further to the schools that can afford it.

No, I don't believe so. What VA Tech is doing is actually giving out smaller % scholarships (still must be at least a 25% scholarship) which may be of the same dollar value the previous year, but allow them to add 2 more students to at least a 25% scholarship that does not exceed the 27 limit.

Another example. Say a school has the full limit of 27 players on some % of a scholarship. With the COA, they can spread it over all 27 or pick and choose who gets an increase as long as the minimum is 25% of a full scholarship with COA up to a full scholarship with COA.

They have a pot of money, including COA, that can be divided up how ever they see fit as long as the minimum and maximum with COA is met and no more than (but can be less than) 27 students are receiving the monies.

[RoyalShock]

Doesn't this go against the "spirit" of the legislation? In theory I don't have a problem with it as it helps to give these young men a higher percentage of a scholarship, However it skews the balance of power even further to the schools that can afford it.

I agree it goes against the spirit of the rule, which is to help students already receiving a scholarship pay for everyday living expenses, not reduce their scholarship so someone else can have a cut.

The point of COA (as I understand it) wasn't to offset tuition costs, but that's how VAtech is using it. It was to help that basketball player from UConn not be hungry all the time.

[Cdizzle]

It was to help that basketball player from UConn not be hungry all the time.

Which again, was bull-honky. No basketball player at a place like UConn is ever hungry because the school is unable to provide for them.

[ShockTalk]

I agree it goes against the spirit of the rule, which is to help students already receiving a scholarship pay for everyday living expenses, not reduce their scholarship so someone else can have a cut.

The point of COA (as I understand it) wasn't to offset tuition costs, but that's how VAtech is using it. It was to help that basketball player from UConn not be hungry all the time.

Not that a baseball coach cannot reduce a student's % scholarship as they have always been able to do that, just as he could have 25 or 27 on scholarship. If players are OK with a reduced % scholarship, but not receive less value than before because of COA, so they can have 2 more players on a minimum scholarship, fine. If they are not OK with it, they'll leave and the program will hurt just as it would have if there was no COA.

Isn't it all academic after 3 or 4 years anyway? These players will be gone and the coach is going to have any number between 12 and 27 receiving some sort of scholarship plus COA.

Maybe I'm just being thick-headed, but I don't see the problem.