Ramogi Huma's eyes were opened in 1995 when UCLA teammate Donnie Edwards was suspended by the NCAA for taking free groceries from an agent. Something about having to choose between the human need for food and the athletic need to play didn't sit right with Huma.

In essence, he thought student-athletes shouldn't have to pick between food and football.

Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player, talks about the College Athletes Coalition. (AP)

"For me, that was a big shock," said Huma, now a 24-year-old graduate student at UCLA. "Here I am looking at the system I'm about to spend the next four or five years in ... What really got to me was, as a football player, you see all the money changing hands. You see all this big money being made. You're faced with the same reality you might not have enough money at the end of the month. That's what motivated me."

That's why on Thursday, Huma and 14 members of last year's Bruins team announced the formation of the Collegiate Athletes Coalition. The CAC is advocating increasing monthly stipends for players, eliminating the NCAA's $2,000 cap on wages earned during the school year and increased health care and insurance coverage.

The changes aren't much different than those advocated by other groups and individuals in the past. The difference is Huma and the CAC have a powerful ally: The United Steelworkers Union.

The 700,000-person strong union is putting its legal and administrative clout behind the effort to change NCAA bylaws.

"The NCAA better open their eyes here and take a look at this situation," said Tim Waters, the steelworkers' national coordinator for rapid response. "We are very serious. Our reputation, I welcome anybody to look that up. We aren't going to go away."

A strike or work stoppage by players is not in the near future. Not yet. The CAC first wants to establish a chapter at every Division I-A football program in the country to make players and the NCAA aware of the perceived injustices. Six additional schools are "in discussion" with the CAA, Waters told SportsLine.com on Friday.

"We figured that this is something that is long overdue," Huma said. "The balance of power in the NCAA has to shift a little bit."

Huma grew up in a middle-class family in Covina, Calif., the youngest of three brothers. Once a highly recruited linebacker, his career was cut short by a hip injury during his redshirt junior year. Fortunately, coach Bob Toledo kept him on scholarship through his first year in grad school. He has earned an academic scholarship for his current year in the School of Public Health.

One thing is certain. None of this probably would have happened unless UCLA offered a scholarship. Huma's family couldn't afford the tuition, he said. It took until Huma was in school to realize what a financial struggle it was for a student-athlete on a full ride.

"You change your oil early in the month," he said, "that might be your last meal at the end of the month."

What makes the CAC so credible is that it is not asking for much. UCLA players receive $820 per month in room and board during the school year. Huma said another $300 per month would bring that amount up to the minimum distributed by the school's financial aid office.

The CAC also wanted full health care coverage for injuries suffered during offseason workouts. It also thinks the $10,000 NCAA life insurance policy is too low. It wants an increase in that amount but has not specified by how much.

The steelworkers got interested after an e-mail sent out by Huma. Seven months later the two entities were hand-in-hand at the press conference to announce the CAC's formation.

The union has a history of helping student groups like the United States Student Association. The USSA is believed to be the only student group that has registered lobbyists in Washington D.C. It also advocates lower tuition costs and student loan interest rates.

"In this (Huma's) case we saw some exploited students," Waters said. "This is crazy, man. We were shocked initially that an organization like the NCAA could actually force students to band together to ask for health insurance at practices. Why in the world would they have to ask for that?"

Terry Bonds, a steelworkers district director, went as far to use the word "sweatshop" to describe the student-athlete's situation at Thursday's press conference.

"This is not the literal sense but it does meet a few of the criteria," Waters said. "The players are definitely being exploited. You've got some underprivileged students trying to make their way by using their athletic talent. They're not getting a free education like the NCAA would have the general public believe. They work very hard and generate a lot of money."

The NCAA student-athlete advisory committee has been around for years to address such issues. Two student-athletes are allowed to sit on the NCAA Management Council. Those two do not have voting rights.

"We have a student-athlete structure in place," said Jane Jankowski, an NCAA spokeswoman. "They work on issues at their own campuses, issues that are important to them. We certainly welcome input and we have mechanisms in place for that to happen. The NCAA is constantly dealing with student-athlete welfare issues."

Paying players, though, is where the NCAA has traditionally drawn a line in the sand. Amateurism is a reason the NCAA exists. Stipends could lead to organization and organization could lead to unions and unions could lead to strikes.

But in some cases, players have had enough.

"The fact that coaches are making a lot of money doesn't bother a lot of athletes," said Joe Whitt Jr., a member of the NCAA student-athlete committee. "It's the fact that we don't get anything in return. People say our education is free. Our education is not free. We work very hard for it. We put in hundreds and hundreds of hours."

The Student Basketball Council was started within the past year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to affect change. While the SBC is stigmatized by what some might see as the coaches' agenda -- keeping players in school to win games -- it has many of the same goals of the CAC.

Huma had obtained the number of Duke's Shane Battier, student leader of the SBC, by Friday afternoon.

The next step? Organize and ask for a piece of the NCAA pie that includes a $300 million budget.

"That will be the point we can go to the NCAA with our concerns," Huma said.