More fuel to the fire that college athletes should get paid, a new report called "The Price of Poverty in Big Time College Sport” says that 85% of Division I scholarship athletes live below the federal poverty line and a full scholarship is anything but full.

The report by the National College Players Association and Drexel University, released last week,makes that point emphatically.

“A full scholarship isn't truly full,” said Ramogi Huma, President of the NCPA. “Players are expected to pay $3,000 out of pocket, but most don't understand that. Most of society doesn't understand that either.”

San Diego State estimates the annual value of a full scholarship for an in-state student at $19,125, and estimates the cost of attendance at $23,820 - a difference of $4,695.

Huma, who played linebacker at UCLA in the late 1990's, wants congress to support legislation that would require member schools to close that gap for football and men's basketball. He says football and basketball players should have their scholarships increased because they play in the revenue sports.

The study recommends a $3,222 increase and states: “It would cost approximately“$32.8 million for 85 scholarship players from each of the 120 FBS football teams, and $14.2 million to do the same for 13 scholarship players on each of the 338 Division I basketball teams that offer scholarships. The total would be about $47 million annually. Should Title IX compliance require that provisions be made for female athletes to receive a similar benefit, that amount can be doubled for a total of $94 million annually.

To put this in perspective relative to the new revenues that are available throughout NCAA sports, the new Pac-12 TV contract alone will bring in $150 million in new revenues each year. The year-old NCAA TV contract with CBS will average about $270 million in new revenues above and beyond its previous TV deal with CBS. These new revenues could fund coverage of the scholarship shortfall gap.”

San Diego State head football coach Rocky Long, who coached Huma at UCLA, says if the value of a scholarship increases, it should go beyond football and basketball.

“I'm for paying all scholarship athletes, if that's what you’re asking,” Long said. “I'm for them getting extra money, but I'm not just for football and basketball getting extra money.”

The study also estimates that the fair market value for the average Football Bowl Subdivision player would be worth $121,000 per year, while the average basketball player at that level would be worth $265,000

Larry Gibbs, a senior defensive lineman for the Aztecs’ football team, just earned a scholarship prior to this season. He says getting paid “fair market value” is not important to him.

“(The scholarship) is the biggest deal in the world to me,” Gibbs said. “That's what I've been working on my whole life. That's enough money for me. It should be enough money for everyone else. You should play the game for the love of football.”

Huma also believes the NCAA should adopt the Olympic model and allow players to make their own endorsement deals.

“The scandals you see today are precisely because the NCAA tries to prohibit those types of things,” Huma said.

However, endorsement deals would likely not be created equal. So a football player at SDSU might not have the same endorsement opportunity as someone who plays at a BCS school like Michigan, SDSU’s opponents this week, which drew a record crowd of nearly 115,000 fans for the Wolverines’ game against Notre Dame on September 10th.

“I don't think it needs to be like that,” said SDSU senior offensive lineman Tommie Draheim. “Then it just becomes a competition of who can pay the most money and schools lose their edge on players.”