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Latest NCAA and Big Sky News
The NCAA will be closed beginning December 26-January 2. Normal business hours resume on January 3. The Big Sky Conference will be closed on December 26 and January 2 in observance of the holidays. From December 27-30, the Conference will be open with at least one staff member in the office. Please note that those institutions needing compliance help may contact the Assistant Commissioner/Compliance at any time during that week via cell phone.
Those institutions in need of emergency assistance on issues that must be resolved prior to the office re-opening in the areas of interpretations, initial-eligibility waivers, prospective student-athlete reviews, progress-toward-degree waivers, Subcommittee or Committee for Legislative Relief waivers, student-athlete reinstatement, Committee on Academic Performance waivers/adjustments/improvement plan submission should call the institutional line (317/917-6003) and follow the prompts to leave a message for the specific topic area noted above.
Please leave your name, position, institution or conference affiliation, contact number, the nature and urgency of the request and someone from the staff will contact you within 24 hours.
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Implementation of $2,000 allowance suspended until January
By Michelle Brutlag Hosick
NCAA.org
The new rule allowing Division I institutions to give some student-athletes an additional $2,000 miscellaneous expense allowance has been suspended until the Board of Directors convenes in January.
As of Dec. 15, enough schools – 125 – have called for an override of the legislation to prompt the automatic suspension under NCAA bylaws.
The reasons the schools cited fell into four areas: how quickly it was implemented, perceived impact on competitive equity, application of the allowance for student-athletes in equivalency sports, and implications for Title IX.
“Based on conversations I have had, I am confident that there remains a very high level of support for this permissive legislation to provide better support for our student athletes,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said.
“I am also confident that we can develop implementation changes that will address most of the concerns raised by many of our campus leaders. It is absolutely critical that we implement this legislation, for example, in a way that supports Title IX and women’s athletic programs. Modification of the legislation language can certainly achieve this essential requirement. Similarly, changes can be made that will clarify how this legislation can be implemented more smoothly and with less confusion.”
The Board, which will meet in Indianapolis Jan. 14, will have several options. It can do nothing, which keeps the suspension in place until an override vote occurs. It can reconsider its adoption and eliminate the rule.
Or, it can alter the proposal in some way to try to address the concerns of those asking for the override. Changing the rule would create new legislation that is then subject to another 60-day override period.
The legislation, 2011-96, allows institutions to award student-athletes who receive the value of a full scholarship an additional $2,000 or the institution’s cost-of-attendance, whichever is less. The rule also allows student-athletes to receive additional institutional aid up to the value of a full scholarship without counting against team limits, a key provision that also is suspended.
Many of those objecting to the legislation cited the rapidity of adoption as their concern. The rule was generated in the wake of the Division I Presidential Retreat called by Emmert to address major issues in Division I. The issue of student-athlete well-being was assigned to one presidentially-led group, and the concept of the miscellaneous expense allowance was one it supported.
Other schools who objected to the legislation stated they can’t afford the additional expense but feel it will be necessary to find the money to pay for it in order to compete for recruits.
A final concern that could be addressed by the Board is the rule’s impact on an institution’s Title IX compliance. Some schools look at their scholarship levels and believe that because they have more male student-athletes playing in sports with a financial aid model that grants a full scholarship than females, they are unable to offer the miscellaneous expense allowance and comply with Title IX.
The Board could address Title IX concerns in two ways:
- A school could choose not to award the miscellaneous expense allowance to all student-athletes in head count sports, in order to keep the number of male and female student-athletes receiving the benefit equal. This will create some inequities within teams that have never had to confront that issue, a concept that is unpalatable to some.
- The provision allowing student-athletes in sports that allow less than a full scholarship to accept other aid to bring them up to the value of a full scholarship without counting against team limits has the potential to get more female student-athletes eligible for the benefit. Title IX requires essentially the same number of dollars to be spent annually on athletically related financial aid in all men’s sports and all women’s sports. The miscellaneous expense allowance is considered athletics aid, but the NCAA is still waiting for clarification from the Office for Civil Rights on this issue.
The Board also could alter the proposal to allow for easier compliance with Title IX by allowing schools to award a percentage of the miscellaneous expense allowance commensurate with the percentage of a full scholarship a student-athlete receives. This concept was suggested by the FBS Faculty Athletics Representatives group as a way to help schools comply with federal law without having to make decisions that would create disparity in head-count locker rooms.
Board action in January also is needed to avoid a potential disparity with the 2012-13 recruiting classes. Any allowances offered in writing during the November early signing period will be honored, according to Division I Vice President David Berst. Nearly 10,000 prospective Division I student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent for next year during the early signing period in November.
Unless the Board takes some action to alter the proposal, prospective student-athletes who sign with schools during the upcoming signing periods in February and April will not have the option to receive the additional $2,000 allowance.
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The Latest & Greatest in Q&A Documents
Newly Adopted Academic Legislation Q&A (December 5)
Newly Adopted Financial Aid Legislation Q&A (November 4)
DI 2010-11 Legislative Proposals Q&A (November 9)
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New DI Men's Basketball Recruiting Model
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Educational Columns/Interps du jour
Official Interpretation
December 21, 2011
1
The committee determined that field or facility preparation or maintenance that is performed by a student-athlete, related to practice or competition and required, supervised or monitored by a coaching staff member is not a countable athletically related activity.
[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 17.02.1 (countable athletically related activities), 17.1.6.1 (daily and weekly hour limitations -- playing season), 17.1.6.2 (weekly hour limitations -- outside the playing season); and a staff interpretation (10/20/11, Item No. a), which has been archived]
Staff Interpretation
December 21, 2011
d
The academic and membership affairs staff confirmed that credits taken at another institution during the regular academic year in an interim term (e.g., J-term, mini-term) completed before the beginning of the following term (spring semester or winter quarter) may not be used to satisfy the six-hour requirement or the nine-semester/eight-quarter hour requirement. However, these credits may be used to satisfy the 27/40-hour requirement, 18/27-hour and the percentage-toward degree requirements, provided the credits are acceptable for degree-credit at the certifying institution.
[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 14.4.3.1 (fulfillment of credit-hour requirements), 14.4.3.1.6 (additional requirements -- football), 14.4.3.1.6.1 (regaining eligibility for two contests), 14.4.3.1.6.2 (regaining full eligibility -- one-time exception), 14.4.3.4.7 (credit from other institutions), and an official interpretation (12/20/06, Item No. 1)
Educational Column
December 21, 2011
1
Pursuant to the nontraditional courses legislation, a student-athlete may use nontraditional courses to meet the full-time enrollment requirement to be eligible for competition. The following questions and answers may assist the membership in applying the legislation:
Question No. 1: What is "term time?"
Answer: "Term time" refers to the divisions of the academic year (e.g., semesters, quarters, trimesters) and is also referred to as a regular academic term.
Question No. 2: Does the nontraditional courses legislation limit the number of nontraditional courses in which a student-athlete may enroll during a regular academic term?
Answer: No. Such a determination would be made by institutional policies applicable to all students and any applicable conference rules.
Question No. 3: If a student-athlete is enrolled in a nontraditional course that is being used to meet the full-time enrollment requirement and the student-athlete completes the nontraditional course within the first month of the regular academic term, would the student-athlete be considered full time for the remainder of the term?
Answer: Yes, provided the nontraditional course was completed in accordance with institutional policy.
Question No. 4: Does "regular enrollment periods" refer to periods in which students at the offering institution enroll in traditional (e.g., taught in a typical, face-to-face classroom environment) courses?
Answer: Yes. The student-athlete must enroll in nontraditional courses at the same time he or she enrolls in traditional courses, if the nontraditional courses are to be used. Therefore, if a student-athlete dropped or withdrew from a traditional course in the middle of a term and enrolled in a nontraditional course, he or she could not use the nontraditional course for full-time enrollment or to meet progress-toward-degree requirements unless any student was permitted to enroll in a nontraditional course at that point in the term.
Question No. 5: May a nontraditional course that is completed over the course of an entire academic year be used to meet the minimum full-time enrollment requirement?
Answer: The legislation requires that the course be conducted during the institution's regular academic term in accordance with the institution’s academic calendar and applicable policies and procedures. Therefore, such a course could be used to meet the minimum full-time enrollment requirement only if the institution offers similar traditional courses that span the entire academic year and the other criteria of the legislation are met.
[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 14.1.8.2 (requirement for competition) and 14.1.8.2.6 (nontraditional courses)]
Ed Column
December 7, 2011
Any questions related to the issues noted within this educational column should be directed to the men's basketball enforcement staff.
On October 29, 2009, as part of its plan to address current issues in men's basketball recruiting, the NCAA Board of Directors sponsored legislative proposal 2009-99. This proposal, adopted by the membership as NCAA Bylaw 11.4.2, and effective January 16, 2010, states:
In men's basketball, during a two-year period before a prospective student-athlete's anticipated enrollment and during a two-year period after the prospective student-athlete's actual enrollment, an institution shall not employ (or enter into a contract for future employment) an individual associated with a prospective student-athlete in any athletics department noncoaching staff position or in a strength and conditioning staff position.
This legislation was adopted due to the growing practice of hiring individuals whose primary value to an institution was the connection to specific prospective student-athletes to increase the likelihood of the involved prospective student-athletes' enrollment at the institution.
An individual associated with a prospective student-athlete (IAWP) is defined in Bylaw 13.02.17 as follows:
Any person who maintains (or directs others to maintain) contact with the prospective student-athlete, the prospective student-athlete's relatives or legal guardians, or coaches at any point during the prospective student-athlete's participation in basketball, and whose contact is directly or indirectly related to either the prospective student-athlete's athletics skills and abilities or the prospective student-athlete's recruitment by or enrollment in an NCAA institution. This definition includes but is not limited to parents, legal guardians, handlers, personal trainers and coaches.
It has come to the attention of the NCAA enforcement staff that there is confusion in the membership regarding the application of Bylaw 11.4.2 to college coaches. By definition, an NCAA, a two-year college or an NAIA coach could trigger IAWP status by performing coaching-related responsibilities relative to any prospective student-athlete with whom the coach has been associated as a result of the following:
- Currently enrolled student-athletes coached at a previous institution;
- Prospective student-athletes recruited by the coach to his previous institution; and
- Associations with pre- and post-secondary scholastic entities.
As a result, please be advised that the legislation set forth in Bylaw 11.4.2 has been and is applicable to the employment of such individuals. Therefore, if an institution hires a former NCAA, two-year college or NAIA coach in a noncoaching staff position or as a strength and conditioning coach within the specified two-year window, all prospective student-athlete's that trigger IAWP status for the individual are permanently ineligible for competition at the institution.
In order to ensure that noncoaching staff hires are in compliance with NCAA legislation, please work closely with your men's basketball staff. Any additional questions may be addressed to the conference office or the enforcement basketball staff at the national office.
[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 11.4.2 (individual associated with a prospective student-athlete -- men's basketball) and 13.02.17 (individual associated with a prospective student-athlete -- men’s basketball).]
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Staff Interpretation
November 21, 2011
The academic and membership affairs staff determined that a nonqualifier who attends two four-year institutions during his or her first year of enrollment (e.g., one semester at each, one quarter at one and two quarters at the other) may combine the terms of enrollment at the two institutions to fulfill the one-year residence requirement for practice and athletically related financial aid.
[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 14.02.13.1 (academic year of residence), 14.3.4 (residence requirement -- nonqualifier), 14.5.5 (four-year college transfers), 14.5.5.1.2 (attendance for less than one academic year) and a staff interpretation (03/31/11, Item No. a)]