To the best of my knowledge, only the "Power 5" conferences are paying the cost of attendance stipends, which will be paid to ALL student-athletes, not just football players. This would mean that leagues like the Big East, American, and A10 are at more of a disadvantage when recruiting against P5 schools.
Pitt goes up against a lot of Big East schools along with the better American and A10 programs on the recruiting trail and while $3300 per year isn't enough in itself to sway a kid, it certainly goes in the "reasons to attend Pitt" column when they are doing their pros/cons checklist. And if a player is really torn between Pitt, Nova, and Cincy, its possible that the $3300 could be a "tiebreaker." I would think Pitt would sell this benefit pretty hard when recruiting against non-P5 conferences. $3300 is significant money to some people.
The problem though is there are other schools who are paying $1K to $2K more than Pitt but I think in the coming years, you'll see this COA figure become more standardized.
Pitt goes up against a lot of Big East schools along with the better American and A10 programs on the recruiting trail and while $3300 per year isn't enough in itself to sway a kid, it certainly goes in the "reasons to attend Pitt" column when they are doing their pros/cons checklist. And if a player is really torn between Pitt, Nova, and Cincy, its possible that the $3300 could be a "tiebreaker." I would think Pitt would sell this benefit pretty hard when recruiting against non-P5 conferences. $3300 is significant money to some people.
The problem though is there are other schools who are paying $1K to $2K more than Pitt but I think in the coming years, you'll see this COA figure become more standardized.
