MAC Cost-Of-Attendance Task Force Hard At Work

Apparently, in the wake of recent changes throughout the NCAA landscape, due to the O'Bannon case and other completed and pending legislation, the MAC has taken it upon itself to formulate a task force to investigate the possibility of modifying its scholarship and grant-in-aid practices to better meet whatever the new expectations for scholarships might be in the future. From the commissioner himself:

"It is clear that there will be NCAA legislation proposed in the coming months that would permit a student-athlete's grant-in-aid to take into account the full cost of attendance. So that our membership is prepared to manage this issue, we have taken the proactive step of studying potential models to better understand the financial, governmental and legal issues that this entails. While we do not know at this time what the actual legislation will look like, the Mid-American Conference intends to remain a strong and vibrant FBS conference, committed to competing at the highest level. Our membership will be prepared to address this issue," said Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher, Mid-American Conference Commissioner.

I'm not sure how this one will work, exactly. It is not a mystery that the MAC's member institutions have athletic departments that are among the most subsidized nationally, so they would likely need to pull money from somewhere in order to give increased aid to their student-athletes.

Obviously none of this necessarily affects the immediate future, but it will definitely be worth keeping an eye on to see if any substantial changes come down the pipeline.