How Much Money Will Michigan State Be Able To Offer Student-Athletes Under Cost Of Attendance?

Members of the NCAA's so-called Power Five conferences are set to begin offering cost-of-attendance stipends to their student-athletes next school year, and MSU athletic director Mark Hollis said his school will be competitive in that regard.

Hollis made those remarks on Wednesday to the Detroit Free Press. That came one day after the Harrisburg Patriot-News in Pennsylvania published a report showing what the cost-of-attendance stipends would look like in the Big Ten this past season if they were allowed. Those numbers did not bode well for MSU, which ranked dead last with the lowest stipend. See for yourself

1. Penn State: $4,788
2. Wisconsin: $4,265
3. Nebraska: $3,544
4. Indiana: $3,026
5. Maryland: $3,024
6. Rutgers: $2,763
7. Illinois: $2,500
8. Ohio State: $2,454
9. Northwestern: $2,326
10. Minnesota: $2,194
11. Iowa: $2,128
12. Michigan: $2,054
13. Purdue: $1,920
14. Michigan State: $1,872

Those numbers, calculated by CollegeData.com for the 2014-2015 academic year, are considered to be roughly 10 percent the cost of an academic scholarship. The problem is they are somewhat arbitrarily determined by individual schools, meaning they could be difficult to regulate.

And of course, a large cost-of-attendance stipend could become a very potent recruiting tool. Penn State coach James Franklin, who seems poised to benefit the most from this, has already said as much.

Hollis told the Free Press the numbers published by the Patriot-News aren't accurate but that there are real concerns over cost of attendance stipends.

"We're gonna work within the rules of the game, but we're gonna position ourselves so we can provide our student-athletes with reasonable, comparable and competitive resources," he told the Free Press.