Despite scholarships, athletes struggle
Some think value of athletes’ talent is greater than costs of education

Kaila Willcutt
Contributing Writer

Trying to pay for an education and participate in sports puts a financial strain on many MCC athletes, some members of the athletic department believe the support offered to athletes is insufficient.

“The amount we give to our athletes is a joke; it doesn’t even cover books,” said MCC’s associate athletic director and head softball coach DeWight Byron.

MCC offers two types of athletic scholarships, the Talent Scholarship and the Thunderbird Scholarship.

Both scholarships are given at coaches’ discretion. Each coach has his or her own criteria for awarding a scholarship, according to athletic director Allen Benedict.

“We try to give the scholarships to the kids that have shown reliability,” said MCC’s head football coach Dan Dunn.
The Talent Scholarship is given only to Maricopa County residents who are working toward a degree, certification program, or a transfer program.

This scholarship is awarded to various departments at MCC.
Each department is given a set amount of money to distribute. Each athlete is given $200 each semester which can be used for tuition or books.

Coaches can also award up to two students per sport the maximum award of $800 per year.

“We don’t do that for obvious reasons; we don’t know how the season will play out. What happens if the athlete we gave the $200 scholarship does way better than the athlete we gave the $800 scholarship? That is why we do it straight across the board, the same for everyone,” Dunn said.

Athletes are guaranteed the scholarship when they sign their letter of intent to play a sport.

Out-of-county and out-of-state students who are not eligible for this scholarship can choose to take advantage of the Thunderbird Scholarship, which is not limited to particular criteria. The coaches not only get to choose whom they give the scholarship to, but also how much they want to give the athlete.

Each team creates its own funds through fund-raising and donations.

Some teams do not use the Thunderbird Scholarship for scholarships alone, but instead for supplies needed by the athletes.
The football team was given $16,000 for the 2003-2004 academic year.

“I’ve started a book fund with the Thunderbird Scholarship,” Dunn said. “We have spent $7,000 to $8,000 on books, but we are able to reuse these books as long as they are current.”

MCC football player Yimin Bauman takes advantage of the football team’s book fund.

“The book fund helps out a lot; it is one more thing I don’t have to worry about,” he said.

“We get most of our funds through private donations. Usually ex-athletes make donations, but we also work the concession stand and sponsor a golf tournament to raise funds,” Dunn said.

“It is hard to get people to donate money, the community just isn’t into donating to the athletic departments,” Byron said.

“There are scholarships available from other sources; not all athletes have to be on athletic scholarships,” Dunn said.

One scholarship available to athletes from out-of-state is the Western Undergraduate Exchange offered by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

“My coaches helped me find it since I didn’t qualify for the Talent Scholarship,” said out-of-state athlete Brian Armstrong.
Benedict stated that he was not pleased with the system.

“It is a financial hardship for some, but that’s our system,” he said.
Byron noted that the school used to award tuition wavers but stopped because of growth in participation.

“If something doesn’t change we are going to see a decrease in athletic participation; there aren’t many willing to play for almost nothing,” he said.

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