Tickets
By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati football coach Tommy Tuberville made it clear Thursday that the school has no plans to withhold cost of attendance money from its student-athletes based on their on-field performance. There will be no fines issued for poor play during games or poor effort during practice.
Tuberville issued a statement in an attempt to clarify UC's position and procedures following the posting of a story about the school's policy on ESPN.com on Thursday.
"This has nothing to do with football performance," Tuberville's statement read. "We have high standards our players will uphold and they will be accountable. We would never duck from our commitment to support our student-athletes but they know we expect them to be great citizens. UC is on the forefront of student-athletes' welfare and experience."
As Tuberville explained, his players' cost of attendance stipend will be distributed monthly over the course of the fall and spring semesters, therefore in the event that a player incurs expenses – such as travel home for a death in the family or university charges for such things as not turning in rented books, damaging a dorm room or running up parking tickets, there will be scholarship money available on their account to cover such expenses.
"We're trying to keep these kids from being in debt when they get out of college," Tuberville said.
"Here's the deal," Tuberville continued. "Every kid has got an account on campus. All we can do is pay room and board and books and now we can give them cost of attendance. So if they have an account at the end of the semester, they're responsible for that. I don't mind who pays it. Don't make no difference at all. If their parents want to pay it, that's fine. Then, I'll give them their money at the end of the semester.
"But if they don't pay it and they can't get into school the next semester, it's got to come from somewhere. So what's happened in the past is we had kids here, they get all this scholarship money, they get everything paid for, and they rack up all these charges, which they shouldn't. Then they've got to go take a student loan out, that's 10 or 15 percent (interest) and when they graduate they've got $20,000 in student loans, which is ridiculous."
This is the first year the NCAA has allowed schools to pay what is called a cost-of-attendance stipend to help pay for expenses that student-athletes incur beyond the basics covered by their scholarships. UC is among the national leaders in the amount it will pay its student-athletes.
For the 2015-16 school year, UC student-athletes will receive between $5,504 and $7,018 depending on each individual's cost of attendance, which factors in such variables as how far away the student-athlete lives from Cincinnati, among others.
The payments began on Aug. 15 and subsequently will be made on the 1st of every month for a ten-month period. Tuberville said the monthly payments have been set so that about half of the money will be paid during the semester and the rest will be paid at the end of the semester.
"We don't fine anyone," said UC athletic director Mike Bohn. "We have policies and procedures associated with expectations of being a student-athlete at the University of Cincinnati. With the cost of attendance now being added to the value of a scholarship, we are working hard to ensure our student-athletes understand what's at risk should they break team policies, athletic department policies, student code of conduct, that they understand what's at risk of being lost. We aren't implementing a fine piece."
Maggie McKinley, a UC senior associate AD who serves on the NCAA's legislative committee, said the school has always reserved the right to reduce or eliminate a scholarship if university policies are not followed. If a student-athlete disagrees with the school's decision to reduce a scholarship, there's an appeals process.
"I think the thing to emphasize is that nothing has changed," McKinley said. "We are still operating the same way. The only difference is that the scholarship value has been increased from last year to this year. And therefore it might put more of a spotlight on (the fact) that they have more to lose. We have already in our grant-in-aid agreement been very clear that they must adhere to and abide by the university, department, and team policies. If they do not, that scholarship could be reduced or cancelled."
Part of the confusion, Tuberville said, is that because of the newness of the cost-of-attendance concept, many don't understand how it works.
"People don't know enough about it," he said. "They don't know enough about our business. They don't know that these kids, to pay off debts that they've rung up because they weren't responsible enough, that they've had to go get student loans that they can't pay back.
"My job is to make sure that they get a degree and when they leave here now that they're free and clear. They don't walk out of here owing money. You're talking about 90 percent of them are gonna do right, but you're gonna have 10 percent that's going to have school charges, not football charges, because of things on their account that's gone wrong."
Bill Koch covered UC Athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com in January, 2015 as featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter @bkoch.