JMU to Pay COA for Basketball

Late last week JMU announced that it was going to pay Cost of Attendance (COA) stipends for men’s and women’s basketball. This proves two things. First, that this should not be anyone’s go-to site for breaking news (it’s 4 days old now) and second, that the powers that be at JMU accept the reality of today’s college basketball environment.

As we’ve mentioned previously, it doesn’t really matter if you agree in principle with COA stipends. The fact is, that they basically are the new “full ride” for college basketball. The horse is out of the  barn. Even President Alger, who penned a letter in opposition to the very idea of COAs, realizes that now. Most schools are already paying them. Not doing so, puts a program at a competitive disadvantage. Former JMU women’s basketball coach was very vocal about how not being able to offer COA was hurting his program. Thankfully, the administration listened and committed to giving Coach Rowe and Coach O’Regan the support they need to recruit top players.

One last thing. Without getting into some socioeconomic discussion, it’s foolish to say that COA shouldn’t be a deciding factor in any recruits decision about which school to attend. JMU will offer scholarship basketball players a stipend of over $4,000 year. If you were fortunate enough to have your parents pay your tuition (like both of us were) and don’t think that sounds like much money, then God bless you. Maybe you could get a summer job or even have your parents throw a little spending cash your way when you were a student. Not everyone is that lucky. And it’s virtually impossible for college basketball players, who “work” 11 months a year, to get a side job. So while some folks might think that a few thousand dollars a year shouldn’t factor into a young person’s decision where to attend college, it will. It’s a nice chunk of change for a college student and could even help pay for some families to come attend a few games.