The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- October 11, 1999

Deadline for EADA forms is October 15

The deadline for completing Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) forms is rapidly approaching. Federal law requires that all coeducational postsecondary institutions with athletics programs must make a copy of their EADA forms available to the public by October 15, 1999.

NCAA bylaws require member institutions to provide the NCAA with a copy of a package of tables and worksheets developed by the NCAA to satisfy both the federal EADA reporting requirements and the NCAA's own gender-equity reporting by October 15, as well.

A copy of the entire package of tables and worksheets was mailed by the NCAA to the CEO of each member institution in early Sep-tember. A computerized version of the form is available for downloading from the NCAA's Web site at www.ncaa.org/databases.

Tables 1 through 10 of the NCAA's reporting form are de-signed to fully comply with the EADA, including recently adopted amendments to the Act adopted as part of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998. By October 15, in order to meet the federal requirements of EADA, an institution should have completed Tables 1 through 10 and be prepared to make that body of data available to the public upon request. The worksheets, provided by the NCAA to assist institutions in completing the tables, are not required to be made available to the public.

Beginning with this year's report, amendments to the EADA also require that a copy of each institution's EADA form be sent to the U.S. Department of Education by Oct-ober 30. However, the NCAA was notified by the Department on September 30 that there will be a delay in this year's submission of the EADA documents.

Therefore, the Department has decided to postpone the federal reporting date to a later time, most likely after January 1, 2000. A "Dear colleague" letter is being drafted to notify all institutions of the delay. As soon as a date for submission of the forms and a mailing address is established, the NCAA will notify member institutions in The NCAA News.

This federal reporting date change has no effect on the October 15 deadline. Institutions still must have the form completed and provide it to the public upon request.