With all due respect to the quality of reporting on the Daily Illini sports page, that’s not what UIUC’s Common Data Set says. According to the most recent CDS (2016-2017), 190 student-athletes received athletic scholarships at an average of $35,895. That totals $6.8 million. As between the Daily Illini and the CDS, I think I’ll trust the CDS.
But the CDS (Line HsA) also says UIUC awarded non-need based scholarships to 3,724 undergraduates without financial need, excluding athletic scholarships. The average value of these awards was $5,240. That totals $19.5 million.
These figures are difficult to reconcile with Line H1 of the CDS which says the total amount of non-need-based aid (excluding non-need-based aid that was used to meet need) was $15.3 million. Even if all the athletes had need and every penny of athletic scholarships went to meet that need, $19.5 million (from Line H2A) is still more than $15.3 million (Line H1). So something’s amiss here.
In any event, UIUC spent either $15.3 million or $19.5 million on scholarships for non-athletes who had no financial need, at a time they were gapping students with need by about 1/3 of their demonstrated need. I won’t say that’s unconscionable because I don’t know what kinds of endowment constraints they were under—maybe they just had no other legal options. But it’s troubling. And it’s no wonder so many Illinois residents are now attending OOS flagships which in many cases they find more affordable than UIUC.