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Filed athletics finances

Who spends the most on football recruiting

Every figure is read from the school's own NCAA financial report — the annual filing each Division I athletics department submits to the NCAA. Ranked by reported dollars, not by results.
108Schools ranked
FY2025Fiscal year
$81.89MCombined football recruiting
831Reports parsed

Transportation, lodging, and meals for prospective student-athletes and for staff on official and unofficial visits. These figures are the amounts each school allocated to football.

Rank / schoolReported football recruitingChange
01

Alabama

$4.30M · $4,303,424

−18% YoY
02

Oklahoma

$3.66M · $3,659,318

no prior year
03

Michigan

$3.46M · $3,457,109

+90% YoY
04

Texas

$3.37M · $3,372,619

−6% YoY
05

Clemson

$3.24M · $3,237,985

+3% YoY
06

Texas A&M

$3.09M · $3,094,900

−25% YoY
07

Georgia

$2.98M · $2,975,732

−27% YoY
08

Florida

$2.70M · $2,699,181

−2% YoY
09

UCLA

$2.39M · $2,387,035

+69% YoY
10

Auburn

$2.35M · $2,352,616

+58% YoY
11

NC State

$2.05M · $2,053,468

+31% YoY
12

Rutgers

$2.04M · $2,044,890

flat
13

South Florida

$1.98M · $1,978,820

+2% YoY
14

Arizona

$1.76M · $1,757,485

−7% YoY
15

Nebraska

$1.66M · $1,664,920

−24% YoY
16

Georgia Tech

$1.66M · $1,663,657

−15% YoY
17

Michigan State

$1.59M · $1,594,994

flat
18

Purdue

$1.59M · $1,589,244

no prior year
19

Mississippi State

$1.52M · $1,520,344

+54% YoY
20

Virginia

$1.50M · $1,502,254

no prior year
21

Arizona State

$1.44M · $1,437,961

−10% YoY
22

Florida State

$1.41M · $1,414,231

no prior year
23

Army

$1.34M · $1,344,672

+2% YoY
24

Texas Tech

$1.13M · $1,128,216

−10% YoY
25

Oklahoma State

$1.09M · $1,085,048

+5% YoY
26

San Diego State

$1.06M · $1,055,745

+58% YoY
27

UNLV

$1.05M · $1,052,879

+24% YoY
28

Indiana

$1.05M · $1,052,241

−20% YoY
29

Louisville

$984K · $984,384

−18% YoY
30

Kansas

$933K · $933,099

no prior year
31

Eastern Michigan

$888K · $887,582

+39% YoY
32

UConn

$878K · $878,266

+16% YoY
33

Oregon State

$864K · $863,916

−15% YoY
34

Boise State

$820K · $820,067

+49% YoY
35

Iowa

$808K · $808,419

+18% YoY
36

Memphis

$784K · $783,755

+3% YoY
37

Colorado State

$767K · $766,816

no prior year
38

Florida International

$730K · $730,234

+148% YoY
39

Fresno State

$686K · $685,501

+73% YoY
40

Wyoming

$637K · $637,048

+22% YoY
41

East Carolina

$625K · $625,407

no prior year
42

Texas State

$624K · $624,026

+19% YoY
43

Charlotte

$611K · $610,732

−19% YoY
44

Western Michigan

$563K · $563,225

+3% YoY
45

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

$519K · $519,196

+27% YoY
46

Arkansas State

$504K · $504,405

+5% YoY
47

South Alabama

$484K · $483,765

no prior year
48

Florida Atlantic

$483K · $483,267

+4% YoY
49

Nevada

$471K · $470,789

−7% YoY
50

Alcorn State University

$433K · $433,174

+983% YoY
51

Southern Miss

$432K · $431,920

no prior year
52

Middle Tennessee

$358K · $358,125

no prior year
53

Buffalo

$334K · $333,659

−36% YoY
54

Kennesaw State

$329K · $328,586

+14% YoY
55

Georgia State

$318K · $317,597

−8% YoY
56

Austin Peay State University

$310K · $310,359

+54% YoY
57

UAB

$308K · $307,564

−20% YoY
58

University of Hawaii, Manoa

$290K · $290,081

+22% YoY
59

California Polytechnic State University

$260K · $259,937

+39% YoY
60

Central Michigan

$243K · $242,698

−27% YoY
61

Montana State

$236K · $236,050

+16% YoY
62

Montana

$230K · $230,282

+32% YoY
63

Tarleton State University

$228K · $227,724

−56% YoY
64

Eastern Washington

$222K · $222,408

−8% YoY
65

University of California, Davis

$201K · $200,893

no prior year
66

Missouri State

$198K · $197,918

+45% YoY
67

North Dakota

$196K · $195,944

+64% YoY
68

South Dakota

$188K · $188,050

+21% YoY
69

San José State

$175K · $175,068

−3% YoY
70

Stephen F. Austin State University

$168K · $168,150

−33% YoY
71

Northern Illinois

$166K · $165,942

no prior year
72

North Dakota State

$157K · $156,623

−7% YoY
73

Portland State University

$143K · $143,239

−7% YoY
74

South Dakota State

$139K · $138,688

+66% YoY
75

Maine

$138K · $137,904

−30% YoY
76

Georgia Southern

$131K · $131,450

−43% YoY
77

Towson

$131K · $130,677

−12% YoY
78

Murray State University

$130K · $129,858

+17% YoY
79

Stony Brook

$128K · $128,284

−21% YoY
80

Chattanooga

$117K · $117,384

−6% YoY
81

UAlbany

$109K · $108,967

+26% YoY
82

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

$100K · $99,999

+12% YoY
83

Indiana State

$91K · $91,050

−40% YoY
84

Sacramento State

$86K · $85,886

no prior year
85

Western Illinois

$85K · $84,836

+45% YoY
86

Eastern Illinois

$85K · $84,799

−15% YoY
87

The Citadel

$79K · $79,171

−31% YoY
88

William & Mary

$74K · $74,222

−32% YoY
89

North Alabama

$74K · $73,949

+2% YoY
90

Ball State

$74K · $73,947

−46% YoY
91

Lamar

$70K · $69,896

+29% YoY
92

Norfolk State

$67K · $67,189

−11% YoY
93

South Carolina State University

$67K · $66,735

no prior year
94

Western Carolina

$66K · $66,445

−4% YoY
95

VMI

$63K · $62,567

no prior year
96

Sam Houston

$60K · $60,363

−65% YoY
97

Eastern Kentucky

$59K · $58,561

−21% YoY
98

University of Northern Iowa

$56K · $56,364

−36% YoY
99

Morgan State

$47K · $47,001

−61% YoY
100

Illinois State University

$45K · $45,164

no prior year
101

Prairie View A&M

$44K · $44,341

no prior year
102

Missouri Western State University

$42K · $42,290

+5% YoY
103

North Carolina Central

$41K · $41,441

+188% YoY
104

University of West Florida

$32K · $32,367

−36% YoY
105

Morehead State

$32K · $32,266

+1% YoY
106

South Dakota School of Mines &

$31K · $31,137

no prior year
107

Texas Southern University

$16K · $15,952

no prior year
108

Jackson State

$14K · $13,909

+1452% YoY
How to read these rankings

These figures come from filed NCAA financial reports collected in our document corpus and parsed from the report text. 831 reports parsed cleanly; 56 could not be read and are absent from these rankings, so a school missing from a year has not necessarily reported nothing.

Football and basketball views come from the report's per-sport allocation tables. They cover recruiting and team travel, not aviation alone: commercial airfare, buses, hotels, meals, and other eligible costs share the same lines. A school can also leave some expenses unallocated.

Private universities have no public-disclosure obligation and generally do not appear. Fiscal years are not uniform — most close June 30, but some schools close on a different date, so a single “FY” column compares slightly different periods. Schools also categorize inconsistently between reports, so treat cross-school gaps of a few percent as noise rather than signal.