The NCAA News - News & Features

Committee recommends options for work proposal

The NCAA Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism, meeting September 16-17 in Dallas, recommended to the Council that it sponsor five proposed amendments-to-amendment to Proposal No. 2-103 (as it appears in the Second Publication of Proposed Legislation).

Each of the proposed amendments-to-amendment addresses aspects of the proposal to permit Division I student-athletes on full grants to work in the off-season during the school year and earn up to the value of the cost of attendance at the institution in which they are enrolled. The Council-sponsored proposal is based on recommendations made earlier this year by the NCAA Special Committee on Agents and Amateurism and the Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism.

One of the amendments-to-amendment would modify the cost-of-attendance provision of Proposal No. 2-103.

The Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism proposes that the limit on earnings be set either at the cost of attendance or $1,500 -- whichever is less.

The committee believes that at institutions where the $1,500 limit is used, student-athlete employment may be easier to monitor. The committee also believes that the amendment-to-amendment addresses concerns about potential recruiting advantages that may result from differing cost-of-attendance limits among institutions.

The financial aid committee also recommended to the Council that it give Division I members the option at the 1997 Convention to delete any of the three conditions that the Special Committee on Agents and Amateurism has proposed student-athletes should meet to be eligible for school-year employment.

Those three conditions are:

* The student-athlete has spent one academic year in residence at the certifying institution.

* The employment occurs outside the declared playing season in that sport.

* The student-athlete is eligible academically to compete for the institution.

The financial aid committee has asked the Council to sponsor three amendments-to-amendment, each giving Division I members the option of removing one of the conditions.

Committee members also recommended to the Council that it offer the option of adopting a concept that is included in a Big East Conference proposal that also seeks to permit student-athletes to work during the school year.

The Big East proposal (Proposal No. 2-105) would place no limit on employment earnings that may be exempted from financial aid limits for Division I student-athletes. The conference, however, proposes that student-athletes be required to sign an affidavit before beginning work that specifies the following:

* The student-athlete has not been hired based on athletics ability or the value that the student-athlete may bring to the employer because of athletics reputation or fame.

* The student-athlete will be compensated only for work actually performed.

* The student-athlete will be compensated at a rate commensurate with the going rate in that locale for similar services.

The committee believes that the affidavit should be incorporated into the Council-sponsored proposal.

The financial aid committee's proposed amendments-to-amendment will be presented to the Council during its October 7-9 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism
September 16-17/Dallas

* Advised the NCAA Council that a study of amateurism issues currently assigned to the NCAA Special Committee on Agents and Amateurism should be made a priority and should begin as soon as possible. The financial aid committee asked the Council to pursue one of two options no later than January 1997: 1) Reconstitute the membership of the special committee for the purpose of focusing on amateurism issues, or 2) proceed with sponsorship of a resolution for the 1997 Convention that first was proposed last spring by the financial aid committee.

The resolution would result in formation of a special committee -- including representation from the Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism, Olympic Sports Liaison and Professional Sports Liaison Committees, and other appropriate groups -- that would study the full range of amateurism issues, including benefits to student-athletes, financial aid awards and issues pertaining to foreign student-athletes. The resolution would direct the special committee to present a status report at the 1998 Convention and to present proposed legislation as soon as practicable.

* Recommended to the Council that it sponsor proposed legislation for the 1998 Convention (and, in Division I, for consideration by the Division I Management Council) to eliminate the six-year limit on awarding five years of financial aid to a student-athlete. The committee believes it is sufficient to restrict a student-athlete to five years of financial aid without limiting the time period within which that aid must be used. It also believes that elimination of the six-year limit will give institutions more flexibility in providing aid to student-athletes who leave school for a period of time and then seek to return, while encouraging student-athletes to finish degrees.

The committee is recommending elimination of the six-year limit in response to a recommendation from the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, which is seeking more flexibility in awarding aid to student-athletes who take time out from school to participate in international competition.

* Agreed to discuss the following topics at its February 1997 meeting: 1) The feasibility of permitting student-athletes to receive most types of educational awards that are received by other students and eliminating some of the conditions for student-athletes' acceptance of such awards, and 2) the feasibility of making permissible the receipt of certain extra benefits that are incidental to a student-athlete's participation in competition (for example, permitting free parking for individuals who are a student-athlete's guests at a game). The committee asked the Association staff to compile a list of those types of benefits for review.