re: Down to 83 Scholarship Players

quote:

---

do we, really?

If you find a transfer you like and he wants to come here, why can't an NIL collective just pick up his tuition and room and board? He still gets a free ride, and nobody goes over the scholarship limit. It's the same money, just a different term for it.

---

In addition to being against the rules, it would be screwing the player over from a tax perspective. 100% of tuition is not tax-deductible and only qualifies for a limited tax credit annually for 4 years, which would be far exceeded by income taxes due on the NIL compensation.

The cost of attendance to the player involved in your scenario:

Tuition
Use of training facilities and staff.
Room
Meals
Laundry Service
Medical Insurance
etc
etc etc
etc etc etc

would require a rather hefty NIL deal (which is earned income subject to income taxation, both state and federal) to cover said expenses and taxes; all the while, his teammates will have NIL spending money and this poor schlub would not. Don't think many, if any, would jump on that deal, assuming of course that same was to be permitted under NCAA By-Law.

Let's see: NIL deal with no scholarship where I pay taxes on 100% of income and then pay for all associated costs to attend and play or scholarship + NIL (free education, food, housing, books, fees, etc plusspending money). Now that's a hard decision to make.

Just love how the "work-arounds" always fail to take into account the complete picture.