Keeping up with college classes as a full-time student is difficult. How much more difficult is it as a full-time student-athlete?

My experience -- and I believe the experience of many student-athletes -- is that too many professors and nonathletes believe that student-athletes receive favorable treatment for participating in athletics. This is disturbing to me, a senior who has just completed four years as a Division II volleyball player, when you consider that student-athletes voluntarily represent their institutions.

Missed class time that results from traveling to competitions is a serious student-athlete welfare issue that needs to be addressed by all NCAA institutions. My personal experience has been varied. I feel fortunate to have had supportive professors who gave me assignments early or let me take quizzes and tests early so I could stay caught up despite missing class.

I always made sure that I let my professors know three to four days in advance that I would be missing class for a competition. Also, at the beginning of each semester, my coach printed off a short memo addressing the faculty. The memo contained a schedule of my team's departure and return dates and times. Each volleyball player was required to personally hand a copy of the memo and schedule to each of her professors. Those approaches to dealing with missed class time helped ease tension between the volleyball team and our professors.

But the actual traveling experience often contributed to the stress of being a student-athlete. My teammates and I traveled on vans for much of the season. This was a great concern because the vans did not have interior lights, which made completing homework difficult. All but two of our conference schools are at least five hours away, which meant much missed class time. Because it is impossible to read required material or work on assignments in the dark, my teammates and I were relieved when our institution finally hired a charter bus to take us on our back-to-back 12-hour trips. The lighting not only allowed us to better keep up with our schoolwork, but the extra space made the trip more comfortable.

Every student-athlete's traveling experiences are different. However, the stress of missed class time is the same for most student-athletes. One Division II conference has a policy of allowing only three absences a semester for its student-athletes. Why should student-athletes be punished for being athletes as well as students?

Instead, the answer lies in getting homework, quizzes and tests done before leaving. Student-athletes should communicate personally with professors about missing class. They should give professors printed schedules of the dates and times that they will be leaving and returning from competition. All of those approaches will help lessen the effects of missing class.

Just as important, institutions should implement a campus-wide missed class policy to aid student-athletes dealing with travel issues. The student-athlete advisory committee at every NCAA member institution can take on the challenge of creating a campus-wide missed class policy. The campus SAAC also can acquire faculty support of such a policy.

Being a student-athlete is a wonderful experience -- the people you meet, the places you get to see, the stories you have to tell parents and friends. However, student-athletes need help dealing with the stress of missed class time due to traveling. Student-athletes do not need to be punished for representing their institutions.

Kim Brummer is a member of the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representing the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she participated in volleyball.