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Quote:Earlier this month, the NCAA board of directors voted 16-2 to give those conferences autonomy to make their own rules. It seems virtually certain that a year from now, the NCAA will allow schools to begin paying scholarship athletes the full cost of college.

For some of the richest schools in college athletics, that will mean paying upwards of $5,000 apiece for all scholarship athletes above and beyond what grants have typically paid: tuition, room and board.

Many Conference USA schools have vowed to try to keep up with their more powerful FBS brethren. But Broderick said ODU won't blindly follow the pack.

Instead, the school will employ a need-based formula for paying the cost of attending college. Athletes will compensated only if they have financial need for the extra stipend, he said. To do it any other way, Broderick said, would be unfair to students not on athletic scholarships who may be struggling financially.

"No one is exactly sure how all of this will play out," he said. "But we have to ensure that we're not in some instances giving money to students who don't need it while we don't provide the same resources to other students on campus who do have a financial need.

"There has to be some fairness and equity attached to all of this."