National Collegiate Athletic Association |
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Special questions may result from special assistance fund
BY JOSEPH M. CAMILLE The NCAA News - September 1, 1997 Rules and regulations regarding the NCAA's Special Assistance Fund for Student-Athletes (SAFSA) and the effects federal legislation have on decisions about the fund impose a number of responsibilities on Division I financial aid officers and athletics compliance officers. It may be useful to explain and clarify these rules for both groups of administrators. The fund was established by NCAA member institutions in 1991 to "meet the student-athletes' needs of an emergency or essential nature for which financial assistance is not otherwise available." For 1996-97, the NCAA appropriated $10 million to Division I institutions to award to needy student-athletes for specifically defined purposes. Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA executive director, defined both eligibility for and permissible uses of the fund in a July 26, 1996, memo to NCAA Division I conference commissioners. (See the accompanying box for the most recent guidelines, which were included in an August 1, 1997, memo to commissioners.) Presently, the responsibility for oversight, administration and interpretation of eligibility for special assistance funds rests solely with the conferences. Who is eligible? Who is eligible to receive special assistance funds? Special assistance funds may be awarded to student-athletes who are Pell Grant-eligible or who have demonstrated financial need. Need will be defined as initial need. That is the cost of attendance minus expected family contribution prior to any athletics related aid or other aid being awarded to the student. Student-athletes who receive a Pell Grant are automatically determined to have financial need. Other student-athletes must have financial need determined by the federal methodology or the needs-analysis methodology used to award institutional need based funds to all students. Foreign student-athletes with financial need are also eligible. Financial need for foreign student-athletes must be determined and certified in writing by the official foreign-student advisor at the institution. What are permissible uses for which funds may be awarded? Under NCAA guidelines, three categories of student-athletes may apply for all permissible types of special assistance fund expenditures. The student-athlete categories are: (1) those who receive any countable athletics related aid -- full or partial grant in aid (GIA) -- in combination with a Pell Grant; (2) those who receive a full athletics GIA and who demonstrate financial need; and (3) those who are Pell Grant-eligible. These three categories of student-athletes are eligible to apply for special assistance funds for the following types of expenditures: (A) Cost of clothing and other essential expenses up to $500. (B) Expendable academic course supplies such as notebooks and pens and the rental of required nonexpendable course-related supplies such as a camera and computer equipment. (C) Medical and dental costs not covered by another insurance program such as required dental expenses, glasses, contacts, hearing aids and psychological counseling. (D) Costs associated with student-athlete or family emergencies such as round-trip airplane ticket home to visit a sick or injured parent. Student-athletes who receive a partial GIA and who have demonstrated financial need are not eligible to receive the "cost of clothing and other essential expenses up to $500." However, they are eligible for all other types of special assistance fund expenditures listed above. Dollar limitations? Are there dollar limitations for special assistance fund expenditures? Only the clothing category has a maximum expenditure of $500 per year. The NCAA has not imposed a maximum expenditure limit in the remaining permissible fund types, but individual conferences or institutions may have set a limit in order to achieve a wide distribution of expenditures among student-athletes. Remember, all fund expenditures must be documented. What is not permitted under special assistance fund guidelines? There were five nonpermissible uses of special assistance funds listed in Dempsey's memo. Two examples are: (1) entertainment expenses for any student-athlete and (2) any expenditures for nonqualifiers -- those recruited student-athletes who did not graduate from high school or who did not have the core-curriculum grade-point average and the SAT/ACT score required by the NCAA to be eligible to receive athletics related aid -- during their first academic year in residence at an institution. (A complete list of restrictions is included in the accompanying guidelines). A review of definitions and a clarification Before proceeding with examples of how to properly administer the fund and remain in compliance with federal regulations, let's review a few definitions. A full athletics GIA is defined by NCAA rules as an athletically related award that covers the full cost of a student-athlete's tuition, fees, room, board and course-related books. A partial GIA is an athletically related award that is less than the full cost of tuition, fees, room, board and course-related books. The Department of Education (ED) defines cost of attendance (COA) as the sum of tuition, fees, room, board, books, supplies and personal expenses, including a clothing allowance and transportation. For purposes of this article, let's use the example of Midwest University (MU). The cost at MU for the 1996-97 academic year for a full GIA is $8,000 while the COA is $10,000. The COA is higher than the full GIA because supplies, personal expenses and transportation are included in addition to the items that make up the full GIA. One additional clarification: From questions we receive, there still seems to be confusion about the situation that sometimes occurs when a student-athlete receives both a GIA and a Pell Grant. Until the 1996-97 academic year, NCAA regulations would not allow a student-athlete who was awarded both a GIA and a Pell Grant to receive total aid in excess of the institutional COA. When cases occurred in which the institutional COA was exceeded, the student's athletics aid had to be appropriately reduced because federal regulations prohibited institutions from adjusting the Pell award downward. However, effective for the 1996-97 academic year and beyond, the NCAA revised its regulations. During 1996-97, a student-athlete at MU is allowed to receive a GIA of $8,000 plus a full Pell of $2,470 for total aid of $10,470. This amount exceeds the $10,000 COA. Is this permissible? Yes. Under both NCAA rules and ED regulations, this is permissible. What are the responsibilities imposed upon Division I financial aid officers and athletics compliance officers by the special assistance fund? Both groups of administrators must be responsible for their decisions. Financial aid officers must be certain that all awards granted to student-athletes meet institutional, state, NCAA and federal requirements. Athletics compliance officers must be certain that all athletically related awards meet institutional, conference and NCAA requirements. We must work together to be sure that all regulations are understood and complied with. It can get very confusing, but we need to coordinate our efforts for the benefit of all student-athletes. Examples The following are examples of special assistance fund uses and how federal regulations are affected: * Example No. 1: A student-athlete requires some dental work and applies to the special assistance fund for a grant of $600 to cover the cost. This student-athlete has already received a full GIA ($8,000) and a full Pell ($2,470) for total aid of $10,470. Is it permissible to award the additional $600 from the special assistance fund for dental work? Yes, even though the COA is $10,000 and the total aid awarded including funds for dental work now totals $11,070. Under NCAA regulations the student can receive a full GIA, a full Pell and an additional grant from the special assistance fund, which are not counted as part of the GIA. What about federal regulations? It is permissible. The Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook states, "The Pell Grant is regarded as the first source of assistance to the student and thus is not adjusted to take into account other aid, even if the student's combined aid package exceeds the student's need." * Example No. 2: Another student-athlete at MU with need of $8,500 has a partial GIA ($6,000), a partial Pell ($1,020) and a federal supplemental educational opportunity grant (SEOG) of $980 for total aid of $8,000. This student applies for a $500 clothing allowance from the special assistance fund. Is this permissible under NCAA guidelines? Yes, for reasons stated in example No. 1. What about federal regulations? The additional $500 clothing allowance is permissible because the total aid awarded is equal to need of $8,500 and still below the COA of $10,000.
If the aid administrator decides to increase the individual student's COA for additional clothing, the student has need for the extra special assistance funds. However, if the aid administrator determines an increase in the COA is not appropriate, an overaward under federal guidelines would occur if the student was awarded the special assistance funds. All overawards must be addressed per federal regulations to remain in compliance with Title IV student aid provisions. The student aid administrator may have to reduce other federal aid or deny the student-athlete's request for the clothing allowance.
Why are additional clothing requests used in most examples? Additional clothing requests from student-athletes involve the most difficult judgment decisions for aid administrators because some clothing costs are already included as part of the COA. Situations that involve federal student aid funds and the possibility of overawards must be monitored closely. Other uses of the special assistance fund seem easier to administer. There should be few problems associated with an increase in a student-athlete's COA for the following: costs for required medical and dental costs not covered by insurance; many costs related to expendable or nonexpendable course supplies; and costs associated with family emergencies. However, it remains the responsibility of the institution's aid administrator to determine what is or is not permissible under federal regulations when federal student financial aid is involved. Joseph M. Camille is director of the financial aid office at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a member of the Division I Financial Aid Committee.
Special assistance fund guidelinesThe following student-athletes are eligible for funds: 1. Pell-eligible student-athletes (except nonqualifiers in their initial year of residence), including student-athletes who have exhausted their athletics eligibility or no longer are able to participate because of medical reasons. 2. Student-athletes who are receiving countable athletically related financial aid and who have demonstrated financial need as determined by an analysis conducted consistent with federal methodology or the methodology used for all students at the institution. 3. For a foreign student-athlete, an official foreign student-athlete advisory entity of the institution outside the athletics department must certify in writing that the student-athlete has financial need. The responsibility for oversight and administration of the fund, including interpretations, rests solely with the conferences. The guiding principles of the fund are to meet the student-athletes' needs of an emergency or essential nature for which financial assistance otherwise is not available. Conference interpretations not addressed by the Executive Committee should stay within this intended purpose. Following are permissible uses of the fund: 1. Cost of clothing and other essential expenses (not entertainment) up to $500 for Pell-eligible student-athletes and full grant-in-aid student-athletes who demonstrate financial need. 2. Cost of expendable academic course supplies (e.g., notebook and pens) and rental of nonexpendable supplies (e.g., computer equipment and cameras) that are required for all students enrolled in the course. 3. Medical and dental costs not covered by another insurance program (e.g., premiums for optional medical insurance, hearing aids, vision therapy and off-campus psychological counseling). 4. Costs associated with student-athlete or family emergencies. Following are restrictions on the use of the fund: 1. Financing any portion of an institutional grant-in-aid that could have been awarded to the student-athlete is prohibited. 2. Nonqualifiers may not receive special assistance funds during their first academic year in residence. 3. Entertainment expenses for student-athletes are not permissible. 4. The purchase of disability, illness or injury insurance to protect against the loss of potential future professional sports earnings is not permissible. 5. The funds may not be used for administrative purposes (conferences may not charge an administrative fee nor may salary or staff expenses for administration of the funds be paid from these moneys). A conference may accumulate not more than the total allocation received over the previous two years. The conference will not receive any additional dollars if it has exceeded the two-year cap amount. Independent institutions' funds have been assigned to a conference office for administrative purposes, based on the same assignments made for administration of the National Letter of Intent. Conferences annually will be required to report to the NCAA national office the number of special assistance fund recipients, purposes for which the moneys were used and the specific amounts for each purpose.
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