On the heels of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the Alston v. NCAA case that allows for student-athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, Oklahoma State has stepped up with a big decision: It will pay all of its scholarship athletes beginning in the fall semester of 2022 a whopping $5,980 — the maximum legally allowable — on an annual basis.

The money will come from the POSSE Star Fund, OSU announced in a release on Wednesday, allowing the school to provide financial support to athletes from all sports by capitalizing on the Alston decision and the Supreme Court’s ruling that universities can provide its student-athletes with additional education-related benefits that includes direct financial compensation in the form of academic achievement awards up to $5,980.

“Many of our student-athletes perform at a high level academically, as well as athletically,” said OSU AD Chad Weiberg. “The Alston decision permits us to provide additional aid to reward student-athletes that are achieving success in the classroom. We are fortunate for, and grateful to, our POSSE members and donors who have taken their contributions to the next level to help provide these resources to help support our student-athletes.”

The money used to fund the POSSE Star Fund will come through gifts to the POSSE, said OSU.

Interestingly, it is at the discretion of schools whether or not they want to pay out the maximum allowable $5,980 to athletes at all — or if they want to give it only to, say, football and basketball players while leaving out non-revenue sports. OSU’s decision to pay out the money to all athletes, while miniscule in the big picture, could ultimately help teams in recruiting and should generate some goodwill among current athletes as well.

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