Memphis Sixth Among Top 25 College Football Programs in Cost of Attendance Allowance

I'll just leave this right here:

We looked at cost-of-attendance allowances for 25 top college football programs. http://t.co/YeiV8TIApB pic.twitter.com/vmsBU1kEII

— Brad Wolverton (@bradwolverton) April 2, 2015

An analysis done by the Chronicle of Higher Education shows what other stories on full cost of attendance have shown: There's no rhyme or reason to COA estimates right now.

From the article:

"The fact that cost-of-living expenses in Auburn, Ala., are estimated to be more than three times greater than those in Los Angeles illustrates the wide latitude that institutions have in calculating full cost of attendance."

Yep, Auburn topped the entire list at $5,586. Feel free to leave your favorite "Lower Alabama" joke in the comments.

Anyway, as we've noted before, the significance of these numbers, which have been around for years, has skyrocketed now that they're tied to athletic scholarships.

Cost of attendance figures used to be an old chest in your favorite college's attic. You rarely noticed it and you didn't go up there without a really good reason. Now the chest is on the front porch and each school has to figure out what to do with it.

In other words, you'll likely see a hell of a lot of movement in COA figures in the coming seasons.

For now though, Memphis is a heavy hitter! "Come on out to the Liberty Bowl, recruits, we'll pay twice as much as Oregon. #philaintgotthis"

That's not to say they won't continue to rank near the top. We just won't know until we get further along in the saga.

Nearing the opposite end of the spectrum is the other Top 25 team we covered last season, Marshall, with an estimate of $2,278. This still puts them ahead of some fine football programs in Georgia Tech, Michigan State and Louisville.

The Cards are at the bottom of the list with a COA estimate of... $0. Apparently you can go to school in Kentucky's largest city with absolutely no living expenses. They may need to revisit the "van down by the river" policy before next February rolls around.