FSU will make budget cuts to fund full cost
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Two months after the NCAA's Power Five conferences agreed to give student-athletes a raise - paying their "full cost of attendance" instead of merely tuition, room and board - Florida State and other universities are still working out how to fund the additional cost.
During a presentation to Florida State's Board of Trustees on Friday afternoon, athletics director Stan Wilcox said FSU's scholarship expenses will rise by about $2 million per year as a result of the measure. To make ends meet, Wilcox said he is instituting a 2 percent budget cut across the board in Seminole athletics.
The cuts will go into effect in the next fiscal year, Wilcox said.
"We've basically asked every unit in our department to look at their budgets and implement a 2 percent cut in their budget," said Wilcox, who is in his second year as FSU's athletics director. "We're looking to take care of this issue in-house without having to rely on [Seminole] Boosters for any additional dollars."
According to FSU's 2014-15 athletics department budget, which totaled nearly $87 million, more than $12 million was designated for scholarships. Across 20 sports programs, the Seminoles fund 244.2 full scholarships, and about 320 students receive some scholarship money.
When FSU starts paying for the full cost of attendance - which includes trips home, personal expenses and other incidentals -- Wilcox said preliminary estimates show an average increase of $3,800 to $5,300 per student-athlete each year. That will mean a total of about $1.4 million for the traditional school year and an additional $600,000 for the summer session.
Wilcox said each university in the Power Five conferences - ACC, SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten and Big 12 - will have to use federal guidelines to determine its own cost of attendance. Variables such as housing options and transportation costs likely will have the greatest bearing.
Other universities are taking different approaches to funding the full cost of attendance. The University of Virginia recently announced an aggressive fundraising campaign, which will boost its calendar 2015 goal from $16.17 million to $22.5 million -- $1.33 million will pay the additional costs for student-athletes, while $4 million will go toward the athletics department's endowment.
FSU already is in the midst of a $250 million fundraising campaign that is designed to support athletics facilities, scholarships and team operating budgets.