The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- August 30, 1999

Legislative assistance

1999 Column No. 17
Proposal No. 98-52 -- Academic Honor Awards

Division I institutions should note that NCAA Bylaw 15.3.3.1, which was effective August 1, permits entering student-athletes who participate in equivalency sports to receive an institutional academic honor award under specified conditions without including such aid in the institution's team limits during that academic year in the applicable sport.

To assist Division I institutions with understanding Bylaw 15.3.3.1, the following questions and answers have been developed:

Question No. 1: Can Bylaw 15.3.3.1 be applied to a student-athlete who is not an incoming freshman?

Answer: Bylaw 15.3.3.1 may be applied to a student-athlete who is not an incoming freshman provided the institutional academic honor award that he or she is receiving is solely based on his or her high-school record. It is not permissible to use the provisions of Bylaw 15.3.3.1 if the institutional academic honor award includes criteria associated with an individual's record at a two- or four-year collegiate institution.

Question No. 2: Can Bylaw 15.3.3.1 be applied retroactively?

Answer: An institution may apply the provisions of Bylaw 15.3.3.1 to a student-athlete who is not an incoming freshman (e.g., entering his or her junior year of collegiate enrollment) and who has received an institutional academic honor award in a previous year that meets the initial award criteria and, beginning August 1, 1999, meets the established renewal criteria. It is not permissible for an institution to use the provisions of Bylaw 15.3.3.1 to exempt retroactively (prior to August 1) an academic honor award from an institution's team limits.

Question No. 3: How does Bylaw 15.3.3.1 affect the Division I financial aid membership requirements?

Answer: Inasmuch as an institution may use only countable aid in meeting the Division I financial aid membership requirements, it is not permissible for an institution to include aid toward meeting those requirements if the provisions of Bylaw 15.3.3.1 have been used to exempt such aid from the team limits.

Question No. 4: How does Bylaw 15.3.3.1 apply to a student-athlete in Division I-AA football whose only source of aid is an academic honor award?

Answer: During its June 8, 1999, in-person meeting, the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet Subcommittee on Legislative Review/Interpretations determined that an entering student-athlete, in the sport of Division I -AA football, whose only source of aid from the institution is an academic honor award that satisfies the provisions of Bylaw 15.3.3.1, may be excluded from the institution's total number of counters (initial and overall).

Correction

A error occurred in the 1999-00 NCAA Division I Manual under the following bylaws:

17.16.1.1 Winter Training Trip. Division I institutions should note that Bylaw 17.16.1.1, which appears in the 1998-99 manual, was inadvertently omitted from the 1999-00 manual.

Bylaw 17.16.1.1 should read "A single winter training trip, for practice only, shall be permitted between the segments, provided the trip does not exceed two weeks and is counted as part of the 156-day playing and practice season."

17.18.3-(a) First Contest or Date of Completion. NCAA institutions should note that the word "weekends" was omitted from the beginning of the first sentence of the bylaw. Accordingly, Bylaw 17.18.3-(a) should read as follows: "Eleven weekends prior to the start of the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, except that an alumni contest may be played the previous weekend as provided in 17.18.5.1.1."

31.3.5 Automatic Qualification. NCAA institutions should note that the third and fifth sentences make references to incorrect bylaws. Accordingly, the third sentence should read, "Prior to recommending that a conference meets the requirements specified in sections 31.3.5.1 through 31.3.5.4." Further, the fifth sentence should read, "Prior to forwarding the list of conferences to receive automatic qualification, a governing sports committee shall ensure that the member conference meets the requirements specified in 31.3.5.1 through 31.3.5.5."

31.3.5.7.1 Team Sports Other Than Men's Basketball and 31.3.5.7.2 Men's Basketball. NCAA institutions should note that these bylaws incorrectly reference women's basketball. Accordingly, the bylaws should read as follows:

"31.3.4.7.1 Team Sports other than Men's Basketball. In Division I team sports, per 31.3.4.5-(a), excluding the sport of football and any team sport in which automatic qualification is not offered, a sports committee must award, when a sufficient number of applications for automatic qualification exist, at least 50 percent of the championship field to conferences that meet automatic-qualification criteria, and provide a play-in criteria. The remaining 50 percent of the championship field shall be reserved for at-large teams. It will be the responsibility of the Management Council to determine if conference play-ins to a championship field are to be administered by the NCAA championships staff or by the member conferences."

"31.3.4.7.2 Men's Basketball. In Division I men's basketball, subject to the championships-access guarantee afforded to the members of subdivisions I-AA and I-AAA as set forth in Constitution 4.01.2.3.1 (e.g., all contests that are part of the championship shall be administered and funded by the NCAA and broadcast on television; and any team that participates in the championship shall be awarded at least one financial unit), there shall be a limit of 30 automatic-qualifying positions and the remainder of the championships field shall be at-large selections. All competition in the championship is to be administered by the NCAA championships staff."

18.3.1 National Collegiate Championship. NCAA institutions should note that it is incorrectly indicated that this bylaw is applicable to Divisions I and III for women's lacrosse. The bylaw is applicable to Divisions I and II and thus, the bylaw should read as follows: "Lacrosse (Division I and II only)."

17.10.5.1 Maximum Limitations -- Institutional. NCAA institutions should note that the opening paragraph of Bylaw 17.10.5.1 was inadvertently deleted. Accordingly, the opening paragraph should read as follows: "17.10.5.1 Maximum Limitations -- Institutional. A member institution shall limit its total regular-season playing schedule with outside competition in the sport of football during the permissible football playing season in any one year to the following number of contests (games and scrimmages), except as provided for member institutions located in Alaska and Hawaii under 17.29.2, and except as provided for all members under 17.10.5.2."

This material was provided by the membership services staff as an aid to member institutions. If an institution has a question or comment regarding this column, such correspondence should be directed to Kristen L. Davis or Lisa Roesler, membership services representatives, at the NCAA national office. This information is available on the College Sports Network.