FSU’s 457 athletes will be paid $4,500 to $6,000

The Florida State Board of Trustees on Friday learned FSU scholarship athletes will start receiving $4,500 to $6,000 apiece annually, as part of the NCAA-allowed “cost of attendance” stipend.

The athlete stipends were among the highlights of the trustees’ wide-ranging quarterly meeting at FSU’s Turnbull Center.

Trustees approved an official 2015-2016 operating budget of $1.46 billion, which ranks as the fourth-highest among the 12 state universities. The University of Florida ($3.34 billion), University of South Florida ($1.79 billion) and University of Central Florida ($1.50 billion) rank 1-2-3.

The budget was not enlarged, however, by athlete stipends. In January, the NCAA’s five “power conferences” voted to begin paying athletes an annual “cost of of attendance” stipend. The amount of the stipend is based on a school’s estimate of the average expenses each athlete incurs above the cost of their scholarship-provided tuition, room, board and books.

Though the amount varies from school to school, FSU Athletics Director Stan Wilcox told the trustees FSU’s 457 scholarship athletes will receive $4,500 (in-state students) and $6,000 (out of state). Wilcox said the stipend will cost FSU $2 million per year — but the amount will be paid by a 2-percent cut “across the board” in FSU athletics and supplements from the Seminole boosters.

Wilcox noted the NCAA is appealing the ruling in the O’Bannon case, in which an additional $5,000 a year would be put into a trust fund for athletes after graduation.

“We hope they win that appeal because this (stipend) is as far as I think we ought to go — or it will change the paradigm (of college athletics) and get us into a pay-for-play situation,” Wilcox said.