by David Safier
Here's another question born of ignorance. When college athletes are given scholarships, where does the money come from?
A column by John Harris in the Pittsburgh Trib-Review questions the free education given to college athletes. Harris comments:
A basketball player attending Pitt is eligible for an education worth more than $100,000.
Except in rare instances,athletic scholarships aren't given for . . . well, scholarship. They're recognition of the hours these folks spent in the gym or on the playing field and the athletic skills they've demonstrated.
I hear over and over again how college sports programs pay their own ways,that they don't cost colleges and universities dollars that could go toward academics. I've always been suspicious of the accounting here — whether it covers all the external costs of facilities, training areas, etc. Do sports that make a profit cover the expenses of those that don't? Do schools with consistently lousy teams recoup the costs?
But this is another issue. Where do sports scholarships come from? Is it from money contributed to the sports programs? Do they come from profits the sports programs make? Does some of the cash come from the general scholarship pot, taking money away from students whose academic achievement makes them more deserving than someone who,say, can bounce a round ball skillfully and toss it through a small hoop consistently?
Maybe I should have waited until after UA is out of the tournament before I asked this. Sports fans are a dangerous, unpredictable lot. I'll just have to take my chances.