Friends raised money for a gay college athlete after her parents disowned her. Then the NCAA called.

[dbackjon]

18. Correct

The NCAA has allowed for crowd-funding in some situations, but it has to run through the school so it can be monitored and transparent.

Earlier this fall there was a Tennessee State football player badly hurt in a game. Within hours, multiple GoFundMe accounts appeared - good intentioned, but only the one set up through Tennessee State was allowable.

Otherwise, as you said, you could have Gofundme's for the star QB's hangnail.

The NCAA allows for FCOA - full cost of Attendance. But unless you are a rich school, most athletic departments can't afford it.

Only a handful of athletic departments actually make money. Even the multi-billion dollar NCAA tournament is used to support scholarships and championships for the non-revenue sports (like Cross-country).