The answer to the $1,000 question is …
“Diapers,” University of Hawaii defensive tackle Kory Rasmussen said when asked how he would spend an expected windfall.
It was announced on Tuesday that the Rainbow Warrior football team will receive $85,000 for cost of attendance, which will help pay for expenses not covered by a scholarship check. With 85 football players on scholarship, the plan is for each to receive a $1,000 COA stipend. There is no timetable when the payout will be made.
But Rasmussen said he plans to use the stipend on diapers for his 1-month-old son, Kruze.
“They’re expensive,” Rasmussen said. “We go through a lot.”
Slotback Dylan Collie said he will set aside 10 percent for tithe. After that, he said, “a good chunk will go to my fiancee, and the rest will go into savings.”
Collie learned to budget while serving a church mission in Virginia. He had raised money to pay for housing and other essentials for the mission. After that, Collie said, “we lived off $145 a month. It was like $4 a day. We made the most of it.” He said he and his mission companion visited a fast-food restaurant four or five times a week, ordering from the dollar menu.
“The extra grand is going to be a beautiful thing,” Collie said. “I’ll take it.”
Wideout Marcus Kemp, who was raised in Utah, said he will put the stipend into his savings account “for a rainy day, for the summers when the checks aren’t coming fast enough.”
Last summer, there was a delay in the distribution of the scholarship checks, forcing several players who lived off campus to pay late fees to their landlords.
“I’m excited to have a little bit of cushion to not worry about eating or anything like that,” Kemp said. “Any extra money they’ll give me I’ll take and I’ll gladly appreciate it.”
Long-snapper Brian Hittner, who was raised in California, considered quitting the team in January because of the high cost of attending school in Hawaii. “Paradise is expensive,” said Hittner, who was placed on scholarship after the spring semester.
With the stipend, he said, “it’s like night and day” from a year ago. “I wanted to help out my parents,” said Hittner, noting they used their savings and loans to pay for his college expenses. “They helped me for 22 years.”
Safety Damien Packer, a former walk-on from Hawaii island, remembered surviving on tuna and his mother’s generosity during his first two UH years. Packer, who is on scholarship, said his mother worked two jobs. With his stipend, he wants to pay for an airplane ticket for his mother to watch one of his games in person.
Quarterback Ikaika Woolsey, who has a part-time job during the offseason, said the extra money will be used for “a couple more Costco runs because food is expensive in Hawaii.”
Linebacker Lance Williams said: “For all the donations, from Na Koa and everybody, we appreciate what they give us. Our gift to them is working hard off the field and in the classroom and to try to give them a great season.”