SMU football player tweets he is starving

[Killen]

$1500 stipend is intended to cover the entirety of your living expenses:

Housing & Associated Bills
Transportation
Food
Incidentals

Yes. More than minimum wage.

But also - easy to end up "broke" in the following common scenario:

Living in the Village at $600 a month and paying for a car + gas that your parents were unable to assist with.

Chill

[smusportspage]

Yes, I agree, that does make a difference.

[Bergermeister]

You'd think someone on the staff would tell him to STFU

Hopefully, someone has taken care of that.

[couch 'em]

He can sell one joint or 6-pack back to his buddy and get a week supply of ramen.

That comment seems a bit below the belt, not knowing this student athlete. Regardless if you get paid at the end of the month you have to plan your budget accordingly.

OK the joint comment was to rile people up but not a shot at the student. I literally sold beer for ramen money while at SMU. Just part of college. Maybe less a part of life with SMU's student body but many of us were broke.

[EconPony'10]

My stipend checks were $1,392 from 2006-2010. I was lucky enough to have parents that paid for my car/cell phone and helped me out when I ran out of money. I'll put it this way, if I had a car payment, cell phone payment, and god forbid I had to buy some new clothes/take a girl out on a date/buy someone a birthday gift etc., I would've been broke faster than I ran the 40.

Rent is pretty high around SMU which I hope most of you know. I lived in a nice place because I knew I had parental support. Most of these kids don't have that so honestly $1,500 a month with no parental/outside support is barely scraping by. Especially when you have to eat twice as much as a normal human to put on weight. Also, some of the kids on the team had children of their own so I can only imagine how broke they were.

Note to everyone, yes $1,500 a month is more than minimum wage but then again... Not many minimum wage workers are expected to live close to Highland Park.

The best option is to stay on campus all 4 years but who really wants to do that?

[EconPony'10]

I do agree that most college players don't know how to budget their money at all and neither did I. Point is, it's not hard to blow through $1,500 in the off season if you are paying for everything yourself.

[PonySnob]

What would his stipend be if he lived in a dorm and had a meal plan that his scholarship covered?

[Pony147]

The tweet has been deleted and he tweeted this this morning:

‏@RichHomieHorace
No more twitter force while guys camp is around the corner anyway ✌️

I'm guessing a coach had a conversation with him

[EconPony'10]

What would his stipend be if he lived in a dorm and had a meal plan that his scholarship covered?

No stipend but you get meals/rent/utilities paid for at the on campus cafeterias and you get around $1,500 per semester to eat at the on campus restaurants. Einstein, pizza hut, subway, chic-fi-la etc.

[Pony ^]

gime me a break....all of my football friends were doing quite well financially. everyone had a 70 inch plasma

[EconPony'10]

gime me a break....all of my football friends were doing quite well financially. everyone had a 70 inch plasma

hmmm... I don't recall anyone from the years I played having 70" plasmas. Weird. But then again, Deion Jr. wasn't there when I played.

[blackoutpony]

Isn't it $1575 per month?

Pretty sure the TCU players only get like $900 or $950.

[mrydel]

So they get less if they live on campus?

[PSCA]

I think the per month stipend is less in the fall semester than in the spring … has something to do with days … I think. At $1,500 per month, that is roughly $22,800 annual gross, or $10.96 an hour. As has been pointed out it depends on your circumstances. If you have family help for exp and extras, you may even be able to save some money … my nephew did. If you are on your own for everything (a lot of these guys are), it can get a little tight. However, I do believe there is a means to ask for and get more. You have to present your case, get approval, and then submit monthly expenses (receipts) etc …. I think. Forget rules, a full load of classes, 40+ hours a week for football, you can’t work during the school year. May be you can seek a little in the summer.


I believe JJ and staff tell the kids no tweeter, cancel your accounts (some have them) … for this and other reasons. I’m a little surprised he would tweet this, and call out Coach Ross. He is one of the nicest and most genuine individuals you will ever meet. He does not choose how/when stipends come out. Plus, a lot of companies pay once monthly … had a job like that once.

[Glenn Sosbee]

If nothing else, hungry Horace's situation at least indicates we are running a clean program.