The average difference between spending on an individual student and an athlete among the big six conferences — SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Big East and Pac-12 — is $104,270.
There’s an irony within the term “student-athlete.” Defined differently depending on the circle in which the term is discussed, it causes confusion among those who refrain from asking questions and is defended to the end by those with something to lose. With the term student in front of the word athlete, it connotes the assumption that the student does indeed come first. But the NCAA and its conferences have to continually dispute numbers that attempt to blow that assumption out of the water.
Athletics presents itself as an in, an avenue for many to have their education paid for and their futures lifted of the added pressure of paying back the government over a course of years, due to the burden of loans on their backs. It’s an escape few get a chance to enjoy, but those that do take full advantage of it.
And their respective schools—at least among the power six conferences—take full advantage, as well. The disparity among the amount of money spent on the average student and the amount of money spent on the average athlete is staggering.
The average difference between spending on an individual student and an athlete among the big six conferences—SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Big East and Pac-12—is $104,270, with the SEC leading the way with a $150,541 difference.
It is no surprise that the SEC is tops. Boasting the undisputed best football conference in America along with a steadily competitive, championship-caliber basketball conference, those two money vacuums need money fed back into their cash cows, and they are willing to do so to stay in their perch.
But solely looking at the financial differences without educational context will cause the same jump-to conclusion that many casual fans tend to do when those numbers are learned. It isn’t black and white, and the NCAA will divulge just enough information to protect itself from an already distorted narrative.
