[meatysnapper]

Maybe they can divert money from their athletic departments to pay their PhDs $20k more per year?

[relaxatorium]

This is not an argument that applies much to, say, the mighty Carnegie Mellon Tartans.

[rsfern]

Even at schools with actual athletics programs and budgets, most PhD students are paid with grant money won by their advisors, or through government fellowships. Not by the university. (I'm a PhD student at CMU paid with NSF grant money.)

Also of note, CMU just introduced a new presidential fellowship to fund undergraduate and graduate students in all fields [1].

1: http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/september/pres...