National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News Digest

April 7, 1997

DIVISION I

Presidents begin consideration of financial aid issue

Members of the NCAA Division II Presidents Council Transition Team have begun consideration of a proposal to enact partial need-based aid in Division II athletics and/or decrease financial aid equivalency limits in selected sports.

The presidents, who received recommendations from the NCAA Division II Financial Aid Project Team, took no official action during a March 27 meeting in Indianapolis.

After reviewing results of a January survey of the Division II membership that sought opinions on various financial aid concepts, the project team recommended that Division II members be asked to vote during the 1998 Convention on a financial aid model in which a full athletics scholarship would be equivalent to the value of tuition, fees and books only; additional aid would be awarded based on a student-athlete's need.

The project team also recommended that the Presidents Council sponsor a proposal to reduce the maximum permissible equivalency limits in the sports of women's crew, football, men's lacrosse, men's and women's cross country/track, and wrestling. The project team also recommended, however, that the presidents consider whether it should sponsor a proposal to enact these reductions if it chooses to sponsor the partial need-based aid proposal and the proposal is adopted by the membership.

In making the recommendations, the financial aid project team acknowledged that clear-cut support does not exist for either approach in Division II.

Staff contact: Nancy L. Mitchell


DIVISION III

Nominees still sought for student-athlete committee

Division III continues to seek nominees for two positions on the new NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Nominees are sought in both Region 1 and Region 3. Nominees for these positions must be male and preferably represent the sports of baseball, fencing, football, track and field, or wrestling.

Also, nominees may not be from conferences that already are represented on the committee by males. Conferences that already have male representation are the Commonwealth Coast Conference, Empire Athletic Association, Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, New England Small College Athletic Conference, North Coast Athletic Conference, Presidents' Athletic Conference, Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and University Athletic Association.

Nominations should be sent to Julie Quickel, NCAA committee coordinator, at the national office by April 16. Once Quickel receives a nomination, she will send an information form by fax to the nominee. The form should be returned to her, preferably by fax (913/339-0035), by April 23.

Self-nominations are encouraged as well as nominations by peers.

Staff contact: Julie Quickel

STAFF

McNeely, Reith to leave positions on national office staff

Michael S. McNeely, NCAA director of operations, and Kathryn M. Reith, NCAA director of public information, recently announced their resignations from the national office staff.

McNeely will become director of athletics at the University of the Pacific (California), while Reith will become public relations manager for women's sports at Nike.

BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE

Attendance for NCAA Division I basketball remains high for men and continues to grow for women.

Men's regular-season attendance has been level since 1993, but crowds at the Division I Men's Basketball Championship have leaped since the beginning of the decade. Attendance for the 1997 tournament was 634,056, with a per-session average of 18,649, which is the fifth-highest average ever.

Women's totals have grown steadily since the beginning of the decade, with regular-season totals surpassing the four-million mark for the first time in 1996. Women's tournament totals for 1997 have not been determined yet. From 1990 to 1996, attendance for the women's Division I tournament increased more than 40 percent.