Can a player use NIL money for tuition and walk on at a school without a scholarship to offer?

[temery]

Just curious.

 

[Patman]

I mean, why not. Does NIL money have to be reported?

I believe scholarships are a guarantee through the national letter of intent but I don't recall how long that guarantee is.

My understanding is NIL money is unregulated. I'd love to be informed to know if this is not the case and if it is more regulated than "anything goes"

 

[Chuck]

It's probably more complicated than it would seem. For example, I think there are rules against using other team's scholarships for revenue sports. And I think there are differences when someone is deemed a "recruited athlete." Probably makes sense to look through the Andre Drummond situation. Unless there is a carve out that stops someone from specifically using NIL (which would be really hard to show), the Boneyard told me that Drummond was eventually allowed to be a walk on and Michael Bradley kept his scholarship.

Here is a newspaper quote from the following thread: Andre Drummond tells the story of how he became a Walk-On at UConn

"Roughly halfway through the fall semester, UConn's compliance staff determined that it was within the rules for a recruited player to decline a scholarship and play as a walk-on. So the change was set in motion. Bradley was back on scholarship and Drummond officially became a walk-on.... This was a complicated issue that took much of the semester to resolve," said UConn spokesman Kyle Muncy. "Once it was, Andre felt it was time to share."

 

[HooperScooper]

It's an interesting question and probably complicated by all the NCAA rules. For example, I think when the Drummond situation was being worked out it was determined that if a recruitable athlete took an official visit to the school then they'd have to be on scholarship. There could be other rules like this that would prohibit this situation.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm pretty sure that across our sports we have a handful of non-scholarhip players aligned with NIL. As this needs to be cleared through the school's compliance first, I imagine he or she would need to be a fully enrolled student in advance of recieving NIL money. Beyond that I don't believe there would be a reason a walk-on couldn't use NIL money to supplement the cost of his or her education.

 

[giddyup]

Just curious.

That is a great question. I would think so. Of course, I’m not sure who back somebody that is such an unknown quantity.

 

[Drew]

Yes you can- Nebraska did this for some transfers on the football team last year. You just pay them the equivalent amount of tuition and can cover things like housing and food to piece together a quasi “scholarship”

 

[Drew]

Another interesting nugget that’s happening in football- you can technically sign NIL deals with high school players in certain states that would cover the cost of them taking an unofficial visit. I know Nebraska has done this for a few kids as well.

 

[ScottVib]

I’m waiting P2 schools to do this (more regularly) to supplement sports with reduced scholarships (say baseball).

 

[Edward Sargent]

Also could an athlete get an academic scholarship and then walk on? Thinking of Emeka

 

[Fishy]

Also could an athlete get an academic scholarship and then walk on? Thinking of Emeka

Yes, but no.

So, Emeka certainly would have gotten academic aid from UConn as a student, but it almost certainly would not have been a free ride. He would have had to have paid something to attend. At the end of the day, why would he do that?

Andre Drummond was going to get a tuition bill - probably not a huge one, but definitely something.

Where a mix of academic and athletic comes in is usually in the non-revenue sports. Those sports have a low number of scholarships to offer, so they are broken into partial scholarships. If the student earns an academic scholarship, that just reduces their cost.

As for the NIL…boosters effectively paying tuition to skate scholarship limits is gonna bring some heat, so not a good idea.

 

[Ricker]

I thought Johnson on our team has made $25000 in NIL money and as a walk on without receiving a scholarship, he is by definition using the money to pay tuition. (Money in your bank account is all comingled so when you pay tuition the money has lost a specific identity)

 

[UCTitleTown]

So NIL money is fully taxable income? Schools better advise these kids well so they set aside Uncle Sam's share for tax time.