National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2000
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The NCAA News
The NCAA offers many programs geared toward providing student-athletes with avenues to pursue careers in athletics administration. Many are through postgraduate scholarships, while others provide hands-on training through internships at the NCAA national office. Programs include:
* Postgraduate Scholarship Program
The NCAA awards 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their last year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
The one-time grants of $5,000 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. Fifty-eight scholarships are awarded for each category, with 29 scholarships going to both men and women. A proportionate number of awards in each category are allocated for Divisions I, II and III, with the remaining at-large scholarships selected without division restriction. The scholarships are one-time, nonrenewable grants.
Selections are made twice each academic year. Nomination forms are sent to faculty athletics representatives for fall sports in December, for winter sports in late January and for spring sports in March. The application must be submitted during the correct seasonal category in relation to that sport. Candidates are screened by eight regional selection committees, and winners are selected by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee.
* Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program
Under this program, one male and one female student-athlete annually are awarded a postgraduate scholarship in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and potential for success in postgraduate study in his or her planned career. A Byers Scholar is an individual who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field of career service.
The Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program is separate and distinct from the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program. The basic stipend for each Byers Scholarship is $12,500 for an academic year. If the graduate school where the Byers Scholar is enrolled provides evidence of satisfactory performance and progress, the grant may be renewed for a second year.
The program is administered by the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Committee, established by the NCAA membership and appointed by the NCAA Divisions I, II and III Management Councils. The committee reviews the nominations, contacts the finalists for an interview by the committee and selects the final recipients.
* Ethnic Minority and Women's Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship Programs
Twelve scholarships to ethnic minorities and 12 scholarships to women are available annually to college graduates who will be entering the first semester of their postgraduate studies. The applicant must be accepted into a sports-administration or related program. Each award is valued at $6,000.
Applications are available from the NCAA national office or through NCAA Online at www.ncaa.org.
* Ethnic Minority and Women's Internship Programs
The NCAA offers one-year internships at its national office, providing an on-the-job learning experience for ethnic minorities and female college graduates who express an interest in pursuing a career in college athletics administration.
Applications are available from the NCAA national office or through NCAA Online at www.ncaa.org.
* Degree Completion
The NCAA established this program to assist student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility for institutional financial aid. Applicants must have completed eligibility for athletics-related aid at a Division I member institution before applying and must be within 30 semester hours of their degree requirements.
Full-time students receive grants equal to a full athletics grant at the institution; part-time students receive tuition and an allowance for books.
The program is administered by the NCAA Degree Completion Program Review Board. Applications are available through the institution's department of athletics.
* The Freedom Forum-NCAA Foundation Sports-Journalism Scholarship
The Freedom Forum, through a grant to the NCAA Foundation, supports eight $3,000 scholarships to college juniors who have career goals in sports journalism and major in journalism or have experience in campus sports journalism.
The program assists deserving students in their final year of study and is designed specifically to promote quality sports journalism.
Applications for these scholarships are available in late October from the institution's faculty athletics representative, journalism department or school newspaper office.
To receive additional information about any of these programs, go to NCAA online at www.ncaa.org and click on "Scholarships" or call the education services staff at the NCAA national office at 317/917-6222.