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Feds look to tighten loophole in system
ESPN.com ^ | Updated: Nov. 26, 2005, 2:51 PM ET | Unsigned

Posted on 11/28/2005 11:43:19 AM PST by .cnI redruM

A number of college athletes, including several football players at the University of Iowa and other Top 25 schools, are living in apartments set aside for the poorest Americans.

The investigation found some of the most successful programs in college athletics have players living in subsidized housing, including Virginia Tech, which has 19 players living in Cambridge Square apartments, a federally-subsidized Section 8 complex in Blacksburg paid for by the government to house needy people.

Section 8 refers to federal code that includes subsidized housing.

As first brought to light by the Des Moines Register, dozens of full-scholarship Hawkeyes players, who received money for housing, paid little or no rent to live in the housing. Among them was offensive lineman Brian Ferentz, the son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who was found to be living in an apartment subsidized by taxpayers.

Federal regulators have since tightened requirements for student athletes, many of whom receive a housing stipend intended to cover room and board expenses as part of their full scholarships. The stipends are based on what it would cost to live on campus.

But Outside the Lines, led by reporter John Barr, found students at Nebraska living in Section 8 housing as well.

College athletes receive a housing stipends intended to cover room and board expenses as part of their full scholarships -- stipends based on what it would cost to live on campus.

The NCAA says scholarship athletes are free to live off campus and spend their housing stipends however they want.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees federal housing, says scholarship athletes who get housing stipends can still qualify, in some cases, for low rent or no rent apartments.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: colfootball; hud; section8
This makes me so proud of our college athletic programs. If they show a rebroadcast of this; see it. It will raise your blood pressure...
1 posted on 11/28/2005 11:43:20 AM PST by .cnI redruM
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To: .cnI redruM

Designing a welfare state so that the neediest don't get crowded out by the greediest is tricky.


2 posted on 11/28/2005 11:47:33 AM PST by The Red Zone
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To: .cnI redruM

I'm curious as to the material condition of these Section 8 apartments. I will definitely catch rebroadcast of this if I can.


3 posted on 11/28/2005 11:49:17 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("Sharpei diem - Seize the wrinkled dog.")
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To: The Red Zone

Indeed it is. And listening to these wonderful institutions of Liberal Arts education on the topic was barf-inducing. Kudos to ESPN for actually showing the other side of the whole college sports scene.


4 posted on 11/28/2005 11:50:35 AM PST by .cnI redruM (Almost any problem is preferable to a greatly attenuated lifespan! - Kenneth Roberts.)
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To: .cnI redruM

"The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees federal housing, says scholarship athletes who get housing stipends can still qualify, in some cases, for low rent or no rent apartments."

Then the rules of the Department of Housing and Urban Development opbviously need changed.


5 posted on 11/28/2005 11:50:52 AM PST by untrained skeptic
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To: AppyPappy
The investigation found some of the most successful programs in college athletics have players living in subsidized housing, including Virginia Tech, which has 19 players living in Cambridge Square apartments, a federally-subsidized Section 8 complex in Blacksburg paid for by the government to house needy people.

Puttin' the "Ho" in "Hokies".

6 posted on 11/28/2005 11:51:20 AM PST by Physicist
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To: untrained skeptic

It was fun watching the spotlight get turned on this particular bunch of cockroaches.


7 posted on 11/28/2005 11:51:28 AM PST by .cnI redruM (Almost any problem is preferable to a greatly attenuated lifespan! - Kenneth Roberts.)
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To: Physicist

You should see the cars they drive. Vick finally replaced the pimped-out Escalade for a BMW. The rest of the players have really nice cars.

I'd be shocked if Cambridge was completely Section 8. Singles don't normally qualify for Section 8. I lived in federally subsidized housing at one time and the guvmint never paid a nickel for my apartment.


8 posted on 11/28/2005 11:57:17 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: .cnI redruM

ESPN getting on a soap box while Mike Irvin is gonna be on tv tonight is kinda blood pressuring rising too


9 posted on 11/28/2005 12:00:10 PM PST by skaterboy (Miss my kitty)
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To: skaterboy

You think "Nose Candy Mike" will still be around?

I wouldn't be surprised if he were on "leave of absence."


10 posted on 11/28/2005 12:01:44 PM PST by .cnI redruM (Almost any problem is preferable to a greatly attenuated lifespan! - Kenneth Roberts.)
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To: .cnI redruM

Well spokesman for ESPN says he will be on tonight so we will see


11 posted on 11/28/2005 12:08:05 PM PST by skaterboy (Miss my kitty)
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To: .cnI redruM

My son was a HS quarterback that got recruited some a few years ago. One of the dirty little secrets we learned was that athletes likely to be of lesser economic means had an advantage in getting athletic scholarships. The grant money they get for these students reduces the amount of money required out of the scholarship fund.


12 posted on 11/28/2005 1:25:55 PM PST by RatRipper
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To: AppyPappy

I'd be shocked if Cambridge was completely Section 8. Singles don't normally qualify for Section 8. I lived in federally subsidized housing at one time and the guvmint never paid a nickel for my apartment.""

You may have paid full tilt for the apartment, and the landlord MAY have also collected the up to 80% max that Feds pay for the subsidy. There MAY have been a serious double dip going on there, and you and the taxpayers were both victims.


13 posted on 11/28/2005 2:44:23 PM PST by ridesthemiles (ridesthemiles)
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To: AppyPappy

Vick has nothing to do with this topic. Why do you feel the need to bring him up?


14 posted on 12/03/2005 11:24:47 AM PST by image breaker
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To: image breaker

Sorry officer. I won't do it again.


15 posted on 12/03/2005 11:29:01 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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