In an interview with LoboTV Thursday, Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs said UNM will fund the full cost of attendance, which will add almost $1 million to the athletic budget. Athletic scholarships will increase by approximately $2,700, Krebs said.
In the past, athletic scholarships only covered tuition and fees, room and board and books. The full cost of attendance now includes those needs plus course fees, academic-related supplies and other basic necessities.
“The language encompasses all sports and it’s up to each institution if they’re going to implement and how they’re going implement cost of attendance,” Krebs said. “I think it’s important enough from a competitive standpoint that we’re going to phase it in over a period of time.”
The most likely sports to receive the benefit of full cost of attendance first are football, the men’s and women’s basketball programs and volleyball, Krebs said.
UNM’s athletics department, he said, is looking for various ways to fund the full cost of attendance and will implement it over a period of time. The department has already reached out to members of the Lobo Club, which raises funds for UNM athletics, to see if they’ll provide support, Krebs said.
“We are currently looking at all of the various options and we will likely phase in the increase over a certain time frame,” Krebs said.
UNM head football coach Bob Davie said Friday that he thought all of the sports were going to get the funding at the same time.
“I had not been made aware of any separation at all,” he said. “I thought as an athletic department, based on my last in person conversation with Paul about it is that we were moving together as an athletic department.”
This past January at the NCAA Convention, the panel voted to pass the full cost of attendance measure, meaning that the so-called Power Five conferences – the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 Conference, Big Ten Conference and Pacific-12 Conference – have to fund the full cost of attendance for student athletes. The schools can enact the proposal as soon as this upcoming fall.
Schools in the non-Power Five conferences have to decide on their own whether or not to enact that policy.
“We haven’t made a conference-wide decision,” Krebs said about the Mountain West. “We’re leaving it up to all the institutions.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Davie said funding full cost of attendance is a must if the Lobos want to keep up with the rest of the league.
“Let’s just start with the rest of the league that’s imperative,” he said. “You have no chance to compete unless you have equal footing and on a level playing field with the rest of the conference.”
Thomas Romero-Salas is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
