When I went to SC, the football players I knew got about $750 a month. Rent was at least $500. None of the guys I knew had ANY extra cash. The NCAA also prohibits athletes from having a job during the season, so for any athlete who's parents can't partially support them, especially living in Los Angeles and going to USC, is close to impossible. Guys do it, but barely. It's easy to tempt kids that are hungry and can't afford to go to a movie when their friends are driving Porsches and have a $200 bar tab. If the NCAA really wanted to fix this problem (including the "no show" jobs that many prominent student-athletes get), they'd allow universities to pay student athletes (of revenue producing sports) a decent stipend of say, $5000 per month. That would also help kids stay in school longer. The system, as it is now, is ridiculous and full of fraud.