The University of Hawaii Athletics Department is worried about coming up with more money to pay athletes stipends when it’s already strapped for cash.

Hawaii News Now reports the National Collegiate Athletic Association is allowing universities to pay stipends to athletes in the next year or so.

Each full-scholarship athlete at UH will be eligible for nearly $3,550 a year, on top of having tuition, room and board covered by the university.

The stipends amount to nearly $1 million per year for the department, which is already $3.5 million in the red.

UH Athletics Director Ben Jay says the financially struggling university will be scrambling to keep up with the schools that can afford to pay even higher stipends.

Jay says the school needs help from fans and boosters.