Originally Posted by Duke of Kent

They are associated with the university/college. Every one of them has bylaws regarding what constitutes a student organization, and like every other club, a cycling club has rules it has to follow.

Some of them are actually varsity sports at their school. Lees-McRae, Ft. Lewis, Marian College, etc. all give out scholarships for cycling, and the team is fully funded by the college. And, at a lot of schools, they have some level of support for the club. At my school, a larger school in the Big Ten, we were reimbursed for half of our race entry fees, usually gas, and most of the time, we had two hotel rooms paid for due to how many people we took to races. Depending on your school, there could be quite a bit of money floating around waiting for students to take advantage of it. I'm always amazed at how many people don't, because most of the people I know weren't involved in anything other than their frat/sorority, school, and binge drinking.