apparently, NCAA Bylaws now refer to that as "post enrollment prize money" as opposed to a "pre-enrollment recruiting inducement". May not like it but the NCAA has set up standards for different categories of violations with general ranges of punishment. If anything the kids punishment is harsher than the general NCAA standards for "post enrollment prize money".
"NCAA bylaws judge the severity of what it calls “post-enrollment prize money†on a sliding scale based on how much money is involved. For benefits valued at $100 or less, the athlete can simply repay the money with no further penalty. For benefits valued from $100 to $400, the penalty is repayment plus a suspension for 10 percent of his or her team’s regular-season games in the subsequent season. From $400 to $700, the suspension increases to 20 percent of games; above $700, the suspension increases to 30 percent of games. In a 12-game football season, that comes to four games."
In practice, the NCAA has handed down only two four-game suspensions to high-profile football players in the past five years, both from Georgia. In 2010, A.J. Green was forced to sit out the Bulldogs’ first four games after selling a jersey for $1,000, and last year Todd Gurley was docked four games at midseason for accepting $3,000 in cash over two years in exchange for autographs. In both of those cases, the NCAA formally announced the duration of the suspensions and set firm return dates after the first game served.
If necessary, the bylaws also give the reinstatement staff the authority to turn the screws a little tighter if it sees fit (emphasis added):
“
In addition, in cases where the impermissible prize money greatly exceeds $700, the committee directed the reinstatement staff to consider whether additional withholding, including permanent ineligibility, is appropriate.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-d ... my-tunsil/