There’s a myth in college sports that Division I college athletes have it made. To outsiders, athletic scholarships, free gear, and lucrative NIL deals seem to add up to a comfortable lifestyle for a young student who happens to excel in sports. But the reality is much more sobering. Believe it or not, most college athletes do not receive full athletic scholarships or highly profitable NIL deals. In fact, many athletes struggle to cover basic living expenses. Roughly 1 in 3 athletes rely on Pell Grants to bridge the gap. Some live paycheck to paycheck, others face housing or food insecurity.

Despite these challenges, Congress is now advancing proposals that would strip away what little financial support many students rely on. Rather than expanding financial aid or addressing the inequities baked into the college athletics enterprise, policymakers are moving in the opposite direction.

A Coordinated Rollback Disguised as Reform

This policy shift isn’t just a mistake; it’s part of a broader, calculated attack on opportunity for vulnerable students. A new proposal in the Senate would slash public investments in education, student aid, and low-income supports, rerouting them instead toward privatized systems and wealthier interests under the guise of “fiscal responsibility.” This is yet another maneuver in the Great American Heist, a transfer of public wealth and support away from everyday Americans  and toward corporate and elite interests under the false banner of “reform.”

It’s not simply a funding issue. It’s a deliberate rollback that targets vulnerable students who have historically had to fight for every opportunity they’ve earned.

The Myth of the Full Athletic Scholarship

Despite popular belief, most college athletes don’t receive full athletic scholarships. NCAA rules cap the number of scholarships available per team, and those scholarships are often split across rosters. In Division I baseball, for example, teams must split 11.7 scholarships among up to 35 players. Even with upcoming policy changes that will allow all rostered players to receive financial aid, many programs lack the budget to fully fund those slots. The result? Most athletes receive partial aid — or none at all.

More than half of NIL deals are valued at $100 or less.

These limits disproportionately affect athletes in non-revenue sports like track and field, swimming, or softball. For them, staying afloat often requires patching things together with small scholarships, grants, work-study jobs, and need-based federal support.

NIL Changed the Game, But Not for Everyone

The 2021 adoption of the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy marked a long-overdue step toward fairness. For the first time, college athletes could legally earn money from endorsements, social media, or appearances. However, this change hasn’t leveled the playing field. High-profile players in football and basketball dominate the NIL space with excited reports of their luxurious endorsement packages, while athletes in less visible sports, or at less resourced schools, often see little or no revenue from NIL. In fact, more than half of NIL deals are valued at $100 or less.

14% of Division I athletes experienced homelessness and 24% faced food insecurity.

Without a full athletic scholarship or consistent NIL income, many college athletes are still struggling. A 2019 report from The Hope Center found that 14% of Division I athletes experienced homelessness and 24% faced food insecurity. These are not outliers. They reflect a system that continues to demand everything from athletes while giving them very little in return.

The Latest Threat: The “One Big Beautiful Bill”

Now, the federal government is proposing to make things worse. The Senate’s latest budget reconciliation bill includes a provision that would eliminate Pell Grant eligibility for students whose total aid, excluding Pell, already covers the full cost of attendance. While this may seem fair on paper, it actually punishes the very students who’ve worked hardest to gain access to higher education.

For many college athletes, Pell Grants are the final piece of the puzzle. Athletic scholarships often don’t cover everything. Families contribute what they can. NIL earnings may be inconsistent, insignificant, or out of reach. The room and board provisions in a full scholarship leaves most Division I players (85-86%) living below the federal poverty line.  Pell provides a stable, need-based form of support that allows athletes to stay enrolled and stay focused. Removing it doesn’t create equity — it rewards wealth and punishes students from low-income backgrounds who have been resourceful in piecing together their education funding.

This policy change is more than a simple budget adjustment. It’s a deliberate transfer of power and resources away from public education and toward elite institutions and privatized systems. Rather than making opportunity more equitable, it makes access more difficult to achieve for those who need it most.

Tuberville, Control, and the Racial Politics of NIL

That trend is reinforced by the rhetoric coming from lawmakers like Senator Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach turned U.S. Senator. Recently, Tuberville suggested that athletes who “break” NIL contracts, particularly by transferring schools, should face federal penalties. The message here is that athletes who take advantage of new freedoms are behaving irresponsibly or unethically.

But NIL contracts are straightforward business agreements. They include deliverables — e.g., appearances, promotions, content — and when those aren’t fulfilled (say, because an athlete transfers), payments stop. That’s how contracts work. There’s no widespread contract abuse. Tuberville’s push for punishment isn’t about protecting the integrity of NIL; it’s about reclaiming control over a system that no longer answers to him.

This rhetoric takes on deeper meaning when viewed through the lens of antiblackness in college sports. Black athletes make up over 50% of Power Five football rosters and a large share of men’s basketball. These students have long powered a billion-dollar industry while being denied both fair compensation and freedom. Now, with NIL and the transfer portal, they finally have options. And Tuberville’s response, like others in power, is to question their choices and demand harsh consequences.

This pattern aligns with Tuberville’s broader record of anti-Black rhetoric. In 2022, he falsely blamed Black Americans for crime and reduced their struggles to demands for “reparations.” His recent statements reveal the same deep-seated distrust of Black autonomy, especially when it challenges existing power structures by seeking financial independence and self-determination.

This is the racialized playbook of the Great American Heist: restrict autonomy, punish independence, and vilify the very students, often Black athletes, whose labor powers the system but whose liberation threatens the status quo.

What’s at Stake: Power, Equity, and the Future of Opportunity

We should be building a system that supports vulnerable college athletes, not one that penalizes them for navigating it creatively or demanding a fair return on their labor. That means protecting need-based aid like Pell Grants, expanding access to NIL opportunities across all sports, and respecting athletes’ freedom to transfer without threat of punishment. Anything less is a step backward.

This moment is more than a policy debate. It’s a values test. Are we willing to build a higher education system that recognizes the full humanity and potential of the students who power it? Or will we let existing power structures tighten their grip under the guise of reform? What’s at stake isn’t just equity for athletes — it’s whether we’re willing to design policy that protects access, advances opportunity, and serves the students our systems traditionally underserve.

Eddie Comeaux is the Bank of America Endowed professor and founding executive director of the Center for Athletes’ Rights and Equity (CARE) at UC Riverside.

Photo by Keith Johnston from Unsplash