USC Scholarships Are Worth More : Trojans Get $14,516 to Cover Expenses; Bruins Get $4,890

It pays to be a good athlete at either USC or UCLA, but particularly at USC, college bookkeepers say. Their books show that:

--Football and basketball players on full rides at UCLA this year are getting scholarships valued at $4,890 apiece.

--At USC, football and basketball scholarships are worth nearly $10,000 more. This year, they’re valued at $14,516 each.

The difference reflects the different costs of a college education at USC, a private university, and UCLA, a state university.

At USC, tuition and dormitory charges are both higher.

Thus, in addition to free tuition, a USC athlete living off campus gets a board-and-room stipend of $486 a month.

A UCLA athlete’s comparable stipend is $380 a month.

Commenting on the difference, Dr. Joseph Ward, UCLA’s senior assistant athletic director, said:

“As a state school, UCLA is subsidized by the state. Dormitory expenses are partially subsidized by the taxpayers. . . . (At USC), the cost of living is higher. Their dorms cost more.”

Under NCAA rules, athletes’ living-expense stipends are based on the dormitory charges at their respective universities.

Because USC’s dorms are privately financed and supported, and, therefore, more expensive, a Trojan athlete’s off-campus board-and-room stipend is $4,382 annually, or $486 monthly.

A Bruin’s is $3,400, or $380 monthly.

One result is that most Trojan athletes live off campus, and most Bruin athletes don’t.

“Most (UCLA) athletes stay in (university) residential halls,” Ward said.

“It’s expensive to live on L.A.’s Westside. A one-bedroom apartment costs $550 to $650 a month out here--plus phone and other things. One guy with a stipend check can’t make it. Even two have trouble. It takes three or four getting together to afford a place.”

At either UCLA or USC, the stipend is smaller for athletes living off campus during the training-table season, when dinner costs are deducted.

At UCLA, the monthly supplement drops from $380 to $320. At USC it is down from $486 to $416 during the football season and to $377 during the basketball season.

Tuition and fee-bill differences between USC and UCLA are larger for nonathletes but mean less to athletes.

Although it costs more than $8,600 more a year to attend USC, it’s all on paper to a full-ride athlete at either school. He gets his tuition free in any case.

At UCLA, tuition, fees and books for California residents come to $1,490 annually. At USC, these costs add up to $10,134.

For graduates of out-of-state high schools, the cost of an education rises at UCLA. They are required to pay a tuition supplement of $3,816, which means that the total value of UCLA’s tuition to a nonresident scholarship athlete is $5,106 annually plus a book allowance of about $200.

On paper, accordingly, the value to an out-of-state athlete at UCLA is higher than that of a home-grown Bruin.