Power and water shut off, Huskers' Bell paid bills with bartender gig

WMack4Bama

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Link here

Really good read. I know there were a ton of people who were "outraged" a few weeks ago when it was announced that the so called Power 5 would be granted autonomy, but here is a story that illustrates the life of a college student athlete.

Some notes from the story

"At one point I came home and I had no power in my house and my water wasn't running. I hadn't paid my bills."

And he had no immediate prospects as to how to pay those bills. He was out of money. This was last summer in the drudgery of workouts. After some time off, he had returned to the residence he shared with defensive tackle Tobi Okuyemi. The utilities had taken their own bye week. Actually more.


"I went without power for like a week and half," Bell said. "I didn't go home. I stayed up at the stadium until I would go to sleep because I couldn't do anything at my house.


"All the lights were off. It was terrible."


So Bell -- an ethnic studies major carrying a double minor (history, sociology) -- hit the bricks. He snagged a job as a bartender at Lincoln watering hole The Bar.


In that sense, Bell was the typical college kid. Backed into a financial corner, he slung beers, mixed Jack and Cokes. Bell periodically worked double shifts -- 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. -- sometimes totaling 30 hours a week.


Some in that situation would have at least called home to get the power turned back on. A young adult balancing football, books and a dark house made an admirable decision.


"What kind of 22-year old man, is like, 'Hey Mom [I need money]'?" Bell said. "I want to say, 'I'm a man. I take care of myself.'"
His story -- that of the modern college athlete -- has the most vitality. While the NCAA allows it, for any major-college player to hold a job of lasting substance is thought to be a near impossibility. Everyone pretty much agrees that athletes go beyond the NCAA-mandated 20-hour work limit for their sport.

"People don't understand we're at the stadium from 7 in the morning to 9:30 at night. They have no idea," Bell said. "They see us play on Saturday and score a touchdown and how much fun we have. That looks fun. Yeah, that's fun except I've been training the last nine months to do it."
Football overwhelms. But get a job? Ridiculous, unless the lights went out and it was impossible to shower. Bell has scores of allies out there.

"I've got, I think, $15 in my bank account right now," Iowa State center Tom Farniok said this summer. "I couldn't get a job this summer."


That needs to be qualified. Farniok was lucky. He had an unpaid internship in the athletic department this summer that could help him toward his goal of being a strength coach.


Still, Farniok makes a point:


"Until regular people understand we're not regular people, they're not going to get it," he added. "We sacrifice a lot to try to put a good product out on the field for them. They flat out do not know what it's like to live that lifestyle."
Let's start with how blessed we are and how lucky we are," Bell said. "We get an opportunity. We get an education. We get more connections than anyone could ever ask for, which is all fantastic.

"But when you talk about capitalism, people use the word 'exploited' because we're athletes. People don't come to the game to watch the coaches on the sideline. They come to watch the players play the game.


"The fact that guys barely have enough money to pay their bills, get gas, can't really take their girlfriends out for a movie very often. It's a tough thing when you talk about multibillion-dollar TV contracts."
 

Con

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Too many people focus on the players getting that free education. That free education is absolutely wonderful and I really wish I would have had that when I was going to school. I was able to get a job though to help pay some bills. If I would have been training and practicing like the players were though, I would not have had time to work, train, and study.
 

CrimsonForce

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Lol he thinks he's in bad financial trouble now. Imagine if he wasn't on athletic scholarship and had $80-$100K worth of student loans after he graduated. I would have gladly switched spots with him.
 

CoachJeff

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If he's practicing 14 hours a day like he says Nebraska is violating NCAA practice rules big time. 20 hours a week is the limit.

Lots of NCAA athletes practice just as hard as football players, some do it with a LOT more travel and competition than football players do. I only have so much sympathy. I do credit Bell with fixing the problem himself and being a man.
 

TideWatcher

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They ought to give them enough to have some spending money. I don't think college football making so much money is inconsequential in this discussion. Some of the players parents don't have money to give them spending money.
 

Crimson1967

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Why not just live in a dorm if he can't afford his own place?


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CrimsonForce

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I feel like this case is an extreme outlier. From what I've seen most D1 football players are well cared for. I feel like there might be something missing from this story.
 

Crimson1967

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Exactly. They're provided a dorm room. If they want to go out and get themselves an apartment, that's on them.
I think the school does give them a voucher to help pay rent in an apartment, but I don't know how much it is.



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BigBama76

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Lol he thinks he's in bad financial trouble now. Imagine if he wasn't on athletic scholarship and had $80-$100K worth of student loans after he graduated. I would have gladly switched spots with him.
It blows my mind that kids leaving school today can be 100k in debt.

I qualified for an NDSL loan and work study when I went to Alabama back in the 70's. I went that route my first semester then said to heck with being flat broke at least one week out of the month and got a job. Of course back then a job could pay the living and school expenses.
 

Tidewater

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They ought to give them enough to have some spending money. I don't think college football making so much money is inconsequential in this discussion. Some of the players parents don't have money to give them spending money.
My parents actually hit me up for money when I was in school.
I'm not kidding.
 

CrimsonForce

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It blows my mind that kids leaving school today can be 100k in debt.

I qualified for an NDSL loan and work study when I went to Alabama back in the 70's. I went that route my first semester then said to heck with being flat broke at least one week out of the month and got a job. Of course back then a job could pay the living and school expenses.
Yea I know a few people who have $100K in student loan debt. I have around $30K. I worked full time and went to school so I don't feel sorry for athletes who have to work a part or full time job. Like I said I would rather have been on scholarship and toughed it financially in college rather than have student loan debt.
 

Bazza

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In state tuition when I went to college was $90.00 per quarter.

That was at UF back in '72.

I graduated in '77 and it hadn't gone up that much by then.

I don't even want to know what it is today.....I realize the school has expenses but it is a land grant university and is funded by tax dollars - the amount they charge these days is outrageous, IMHO.

I received SS and VA checks each month from my father's death but I also worked ever summer as well as part time job during school.

I don't know what the solution is when a student athlete is in need of living expenses.

Move into a place with more roommates?

Get a part time job?

Live on Rice-A-Roni and iced tea?

I did all three, BTW.....and then some.

EDIT: Just looked up in-state tuition at UF for 2014-2015: $6,310 - I guess that's for a whole year?

For in-state Nebraska it's $8,169.50.

For in-state UA it's $4,913.00.

And I paid $90.00 per quarter.....wow.
 
Last edited:

AlistarWills

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If he's practicing 14 hours a day like he says Nebraska is violating NCAA practice rules big time. 20 hours a week is the limit.

Lots of NCAA athletes practice just as hard as football players, some do it with a LOT more travel and competition than football players do. I only have so much sympathy. I do credit Bell with fixing the problem himself and being a man.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's "not mandatory" but you know you better be there if you wanna see the field. Kind of like those "voluntary" summer workouts we had in HS.
 

CaliforniaTide

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To be quite honest, as a former student-athlete at Alabama, I'm on the fence. I'm not making any assumptions about the Nebraska player since I don't know him, don't hang out with him, so I can't say what his spending habits are. I was a walk-on for cross country and track, and I had a part-time job while going to school and running. However, we (meaning all of the walk-ons) knew that the ones who did get a full-ride scholarship had two living options: they either were given a dorm room, and the scholarship covered that, or they were given a living stipend should they choose to live off-campus. Now, the stipend was normally enough to cover rent and standard bills - you had to bring in the lease agreement and your bills to prove the amount of money that you needed. A lot of the athletes got smart, and ended up rooming together off-campus to save some of that money. I had several teammates from Kenya that did that, and they were able to save enough to return home after two years of saving. I'm not necessarily against paying student-athletes b/c the NCAA or the university uses their likeness to increase sales/marketing. But it still goes back to your spending habits. If you only get $2,000 a month from the university as a living stipend per month, make that $2,000 stretch as far you could. I know of gymnastics athletes that could do that, and did just fine.

Like I said, I'm on the fence on the issue. I do agree that the student-athlete lifestyle is very different. For instance, some athletes are required to attend study hall sessions (mandatory for all freshmen) for a certain number of hours each week. You can get those hours reduced or eliminated based on grades. So if you have that athlete that isn't good in school, he/she goes to class, goes to practice, but then has to get back to study hall to complete his/her hours before anything else. Just my two cents.
 

Displaced Bama Fan

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In state tuition when I went to college was $90.00 per quarter.

That was at UF back in '72.

I graduated in '77 and it hadn't gone up that much by then.

I don't even want to know what it is today.....I realize the school has expenses but it is a land grant university and is funded by tax dollars - the amount they charge these days is outrageous, IMHO.

I received SS and VA checks each month from my father's death but I also worked ever summer as well as part time job during school.

I don't know what the solution is when a student athlete is in need of living expenses.

Move into a place with more roommates?

Get a part time job?

Live on Rice-A-Roni and iced tea?

I did all three, BTW.....and then some.

EDIT: Just looked up in-state tuition at UF for 2014-2015: $6,310 - I guess that's for a whole year?

For in-state Nebraska it's $8,169.50.

For in-state UA it's $4,913.00.

And I paid $90.00 per quarter.....wow.
When I graduated from South Alabama in 91, I think I was paying $38/qtr hour x 16 hrs + student fee, parking fee & books, not including my rent/food/utilities.
 

Catfish

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In state tuition when I went to college was $90.00 per quarter.

That was at UF back in '72.
Was that per quarter (for a full-time student) or per quarter hour? When I started school in the 80's, full-time tuition in-state was about $800 per semester. Fortunately, I was on scholarship and didn't have to worry about that. Even if I did have to pay it, tuition would have been lower than the Catholic HS I went to. Tuition has gotten crazy.
 

Bazza

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When I graduated from South Alabama in 91, I think I was paying $38/qtr hour x 16 hrs + student fee, parking fee & books, not including my rent/food/utilities.
I thought the $90.00 per quarter I paid was a flat fee - and not tied to number of credit hours.

I'll have to go back and check on that - I still have all my registration cards from college....somewhere.

EDIT: Just saw your post, Catfish. I'll see if I can find my registration cards and get back to you.
 

bama_wayne1

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Did he have any tattoos?? I hope everyone realizes that a person can be broke making $100,000 a year. What people call necessities today boggles the mind. That being said I would support an honorarium to make meeting their needs easier.
 

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