22 FBS-Level Schools Plan to Give Athletes Academic Bonus Payments

Nine of the schools are in the SEC, the richest conference in the country.

Just 22 of 130 FBS-level schools have put a plan in place to provide academic bonus payments to student-athletes with good grades, according to ESPN. 

In August 2020, the NCAA began allowing schools to pay up to $5,980 per year to athletes who performed well in school. This was based on the federal judge’s mandate that year, then confirmed by the Supreme Court in June 2021 during the NCAA v. Alston case. The cash amount is equal to the amount that athletes can earn based on athletic performance as well. 

ESPN issued a survey to the 130 schools to figure out what their plans for the 2022—23 academic year would be in terms of paying their athletes with the academic bonus.

The 21 schools who said they will be providing the academic bonus are as follows: Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa State, Kentucky, LSU, Miami, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Ole Miss, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech, Washington and Wisconsin.

Nine of these schools are in the country’s richest conference, the SEC. Georgia is the only school in the conference to be undecided about its plans.

Based on the survey, 34 schools said they haven’t decided if or when they will implement the bonuses, while 20 said they will not use the bonuses this year but plan to in the future. 15 said they have no plans to implement the bonuses and 10 did not provide any info on existing plans.

The academic bonuses will reach up to $6 million for certain programs, per ESPN.