Everyone likes to talk about how dominate the Dakota schools are and rightfully so, but look at this huge advantage in retaining and recruiting players when you can offer all three of these things below...
"The two FCS teams in North Dakota are showing their continued commitment and investment in athletics success.
Some FCS-level athletic departments offer cost of attendance. Some have NIL collectives. Some do Alston payments.
We can only think of two FCS-level programs that offer all three to its athletes: North Dakota and North Dakota State.
Cost of attendance has been around for several years. It’s for student-athlete expenses beyond tuition, fees, room and board, and books. Payments are usually between $3,000-$4,000 per year for a full-scholarship athlete, or a smaller portion of that for partial-scholarship players. The money can be used for whatever student-athletes desire — rent, food, gas, airplane ticket home, entertainment, etc.
UND and NDSU have offered full cost of attendance to all of its scholarship athletes since 2016."
The two FCS teams in North Dakota are showing their continued commitment and investment in athletics success.
herosports.com
If you remember years ago Coach Choate brought up this huge disparity in trying to compete against them.
"Costello views cost of attendance as an extension of a scholarship or another form of financial aid. The athletic department will fundraise for it, he said, so MSU would rely on donations rather than state funds. Costello added that MSU’s possible offerings “could mean a lot of different things,” meaning partial cost of attendance may only be given at MSU initially.
Montana State spent $5.04 million in athletically-related student aid in the 2017-18 school year, according to U.S. Department of Education data, with $3.06 million going to male sports. As a whole, MSU teams spent $21.9 million, football spending $7.4 million, and brought in $22.3 million, with football making $9.1 million, in revenue.
Costello said he’s discussed cost of attendance possibilities since he first arrived in 2016, not just when Choate brought it up a month ago. He said his department carefully pondered the financial viability and the right steps in order to do so. He also emphasized not wanting the additional financial aid to disrupt the rest of MSU’s dealings."
https://www.idahostatejournal.com/s...cle_648d2623-321e-58f4-a206-5442e495b1c4.html
If you don't know how to play the NIL game and the Transfer Portal era, you are going to fall behind. That is evident. Gone are the days of just getting players because it is cool to run out of the tunnel to 25,000 plus screaming fans.