Scholarships are a very real expense that the byu athletics department has to pay tuition for to the various colleges.
Tuition at byu is subsidized by tithing, making it cheaper. So when when the athletics department has to pay for tuition, it is less because of that subsidy.
For example, instead of a scholarship tuition payment having to cost $20k like the real costs, the actual tuition cost is only $10k because of the tithing subsidy. Thus saving the AD significant expenses.