Of the 336 male and 360 female participants in Boston College athletics during the 2012-13 season, 164 men and 187 women received athletically-related financial aid, according to data provided to The Heights by the BC athletic department.
The totals were consistent with the numbers from the 2011-12 season, when 157 male participants and 179 female participants received athletics-related aid. In both years, of the students who received aid from the athletic department, around 53 percent were female and 47 percent were male.
A participant is defined as any student who is listed on a varsity roster, receives athletically related student aid, or practices with a varsity team and receives coaching from a varsity coach.
“The fact is, the percentage of aid allocated to females has actually increased over the course of the past three years,” said Athletic Director Brad Bates in an email.
Bates was responding to a report in The Heights earlier this month in which information from the University’s Equity in Athletics report showed that male student-athletes, on average, received about $27,000 in athletics-related aid last year, while females received around $20,500. During the 2011-12 season, male student-athletes at BC received $5,000 more than females on average, while the difference was about $1,700 in favor of males in 2010-11.
“Some scholarship dollars for female student-athletes are distributed differently than for the men to provide greater participation opportunities,” Bates said. “We sponsor more women’s sports than men’s, creating more opportunities for female student-athletes.”
BC sponsors 13 varsity sports for males and 16 varsity sports for females. While 187 females received athletics-related aid last year, the amount of countable aid for females was reported to be around 122.
Countable aid includes the monetary amount of the scholarship in the total. For instance, two partial scholarships covering half the amount of a full scholarship would count as two scholarships for the total students receiving count, but would account for one scholarship in the countable total.
For the 164 total males receiving athletics-related aid last year, the countable aid was listed at around 134. Two years ago, the countable aid for females was listed as about 119 for the 179 females who received aid, and the countable aid for male athletes was listed at around 132 for the 157 males who received aid.
These discrepancies, according to Assistant Athletic Director of Business Operation Chris Iacoi, can typically be attributed to the way in which scholarships are distributed in each individual sport.
“In addition to the variances in the way the scholarships are allocated, expenses may vary due to summer school participation, housing and other factors,” Bates said.
The financial aid total for student-athletes includes factors such as the dorms in which the student-athletes live, which vary in price. A student’s scholarship, as well as the amount, also transfers over to summer school if the student-athlete attends.
