By Doug Harris

Basketball standout Kyle Davis doesn't want to seem ungrateful for the athletic scholarship he's been given. It pays for tuition, books, fees, and room and board, and he freely admits that he probably couldn't attend a college as prestigious as Dayton without a full ride.

But the junior guard from inner-city Chicago has other incidental expenses at school, and like with most students that don't come from affluent homes, finding the money to meet those needs isn't quite so easy.

"We don't always have the good life (as high-profile basketball players). We have our own issues as well. We just don't show it that much,"

Davis said, pointing out that he has family members who want to attend UD games but don't have the means for extended stays.

Other Flyers would agree that a scholarship alone isn't enough.

"I know a lot of my teammates are talking about wanting to look more professional when they go out," Davis said. "We want to have money to buy a nice shirt and tie to look presentable and professional at the events we have to do."

Because of legislation spearheaded by the power-five conferences, Davis and his teammates should soon have the ability to not only bolster their wardrobes and help their families travel, but also make spur-of-the-moment food runs and participate in other social engagements that are part of the college experience.

The 65 schools in the big-five leagues (Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Pac-12) have voted to give their scholarship athletes a stipend to cover the actual cost of attendance, beginning Aug. 1. It's one of the first measures the group has passed since being granted autonomy by the NCAA.

The amount can vary from college to college and from city to city, but it covers books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses, and each institution has been given the discretion to determine what that will be.

After the measure was approved in January, the Atlantic 10 announced that it will allow stipends in men's and women's basketball, while leaving it up to each school to decide how it wants to handle other sports.

UD will dole out between $1,250 and $1,500 per year for each of the men's and women's basketball players. The athletic department has to absorb that cost, which could run as high as $42,000 annually. The school hasn't made a decision yet on what to do with scholarship athletes in other sports.

"There's been a move by the Atlantic 10 to keep itself as one of the top seven (men's) basketball conferences in the country," UD athletic director Tim Wabler said. "As these autonomous rule changes over time get rolled out, we'd look at each one of them. But there's a commitment to be one of the top seven.

"The ante keeps going up to be a player at the national level in basketball. The funding has to come from somewhere, and our intention is not to take it from any of our other sports, but to add to the pie, so to speak, to make sure we can provide those benefits to the student-athletes. I think Dayton is in that fortunate position where we've got a great, strong fan base and individuals who are interested in investing in us to be successful."

The move toward autonomy occurred after the power-five schools wanted to begin handing out $2,000 stipends in 2011, but they were voted down by other Division I conferences already struggling to make ends meet without TV money from football.

The current measure has the full support of UD men's basketball coach Archie Miller, who has led the Flyers to five NCAA-tournament wins in two years (more than the rest of the A-10 combined).

"I look at it from our players' perspective," he said. "If I can help them get home one more time, if I can help them look better when they go to school, if I can help them to eat better with more grocery shopping, all that stuff, in my opinion, we're supposed to do.

"Some of these guys, if you took a week and just went home with them, you'd say, 'Is there MORE I can do for him?' There are kids' parents who can't come to our games that are three hours away. That stuff, to me, is really, really important. If we can do it, we should do it."

For UD women's basketball coach Jim Jabir, who has led the Flyers to six-straight NCAA tourney berths, the stipend is long overdue.

"It's great to give them an education and a great experience, but if there is money available and we can do more for them, we should. We're excited to help the young women in our program anyway we can."

UD has had success across the board in athletics with volleyball, men's and women's soccer, and baseball also making NCAA tournament appearances in recent years, some on a regular basis. But without matching the top conferences on stipends, those Flyer teams will be hard-pressed to maintain that standard of success.

Another change in college athletics is the time commitment required year round. All athletes are expected to participate in offseason programs. At UD, men's basketball players attend both summer school sessions to offset the lighter loads they take during the season.

They also have a number of formal summer practices along with informal workouts.

Because of their demanding schedules, they're on campus for all but a handful of weeks in the course of a year — giving them virtually no chance to pick up extra money through a part-time job.

"I do believe it's a good thing that the NCAA is trying to help us out a lot more," Davis said. "It's a sport to a lot of people, but it's also a livelihood to us. We look forward to coming in day and night to work hard and give it all our energy. We put our bodies on the line in this sport."

It's a commitment that they hope will soon be repaid in kind.