The NCAA News - Digest

May 13, 1996

• Transition teams appointed; management group meets soon
• Additional funding approved for educational programs
• Committee chairs continue to work with high-school groups
• More students to have greater access to fund

DIVISION I

Transition teams appointed; management group meets soon

Members of the Division I Board of Directors and the Division I Management Council Transition Teams have been selected, and both bodies now will begin the process of completing the transition to a new Division I governance structure.

The transition teams are constituted in the same manner as the administrative bodies will be for Division I when the new governance structure takes effect.

The Board of Directors met via conference call for the first time April 30. The Management Council will have its initial meeting May 15, primarily to establish a timetable and process for resolving issues assigned to it.

Staff contact: Stephen R. Morgan.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Additional funding approved for educational programs

The NCAA Executive Committee approved increasing the number of postgraduate scholarships offered by the Association and authorized additional funding for the Association's degree-completion program, which assists student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility for institutional financial aid.

The Executive Committee approved $100,000 for 20 additional postgraduate scholarships, which means that beginning with the 1996-97 academic year, the Association annually will offer 174 $5,000 postgraduate scholarships to qualified student-athletes.

Regarding the degree-completion program, the Executive Committee increased funding $450,000 over the next three years, raising the annual budget to $650,000.

Staff contact: Tricia Bork.

CLEARINGHOUSE

Committee chairs continue to work with high-school groups

The chairs of three NCAA committees involved in administration of the Associa-tion's initial-eligibility legislation will continue to work with high-school organizations to track curriculum issues.

The chairs of the NCAA Academic Requirements Committee, Council Subcommittee on Initial-Eligibility Waivers and Special Com-mittee to Oversee Implementation of the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse also have made recommendations on accommodation of learning-disabled students and appeals of clearinghouse decisions regarding core-course acceptability since meeting with the high-school representatives in March.

Specifically, the committee chairs will monitor whether NCAA initial-eligibility requirements sufficiently accommodate curricular trends in such areas as types of courses and instructional settings.

Staff contact: Robert A. Oliver.

SPECIAL ASSISTANCE FUND

More students to have greater access to fund

Changes in the NCAA special assistance fund will enable more student-athletes to have greater access to the fund.

At its April 30-May 2 meeting, the NCAA Executive Committee determined that the following student-athletes will qualify for special assistance funds in 1996-97:

* Pell Grant-eligible student-athletes (except nonqualifiers in their first year in residence).

* Student-athletes who are receiving countable athletically related financial assistance and who have demonstrated financial need as determined by federal methodology or methodology used for all students at an institution.

The new definition means that the pool of student-athletes who will be eligible for the fund will grow from about 37,000 to as many as 61,000, depending on the number of student-athletes receiving financial aid who also can demonstrate financial need.

Staff contact: S. David Berst, Tricia Bork and Frank E. Marshall.