Currently, the NCAA has no specific program or curriculum developed for student-athletes in such situations. Although the numbers may not represent a large section of the student-athlete population, the question remains: Is this an issue the NCAA should address, and if so, should the CHAMPS/Life Skills program be responsible?

"People in the membership are torn about this issue," said Lori Hendricks, NCAA education outreach program coordinator. "Administrators feel like they should be helping these student-athletes while at the same time questioning whether or not this is their role."

Ron Stratten, NCAA vice-president for education services, acknowledged that the issue is a difficult one.

"NCAA institutions provide scholarships for an individual," Stratten said, "but they don't necessarily do much for the choice of starting or having a family and the financial issues of being a student-athlete and a parent."

How many student-athletes at NCAA institutions are actually in nontraditional situations? Nobody knows because no national statistics are available, but administrators are noticing a change.

"Some CHAMPS/Life Skills programs already in place could be used to target student-athletes who are married or have children," Gibson said. "In creating new programming, you can't get too specific before you begin excluding people. If only four or five student-athletes are affected out of 400, should the time and resources available be used to develop programming for such a small portion of the population?"

"Although there is no formal counseling on our campus for married student-athletes, there is a lot of informal counseling between academic services, the athletics department and student-athletes," Rotella said. "We try to provide support for them through phone calls and making them feel included on campus. I think they definitely feel the stress of having a family, but they feel the support, too."

Not everyone wants support. Guy Troupe, director of player and employee development for the National Football League, said he believes many collegiate men's basketball and football players "aren't generally interested" in receiving support from within the athletics department structure for issues such as unplanned parenthood and marriage.

However, the NFL has taken the initiative in making support available even if athletes do not specifically request it. The Player Assistance Program serves as the league's primary intervention program for players and their family members. The program is designed to help players and their families connect with resources needed to address personal issues that, if left unattended, can interfere with their performance and quality of life.

If programming is the way to go, it isn't necessarily clear how it should be structured.

Hendricks said the challenge goes well beyond programming.

"The problem we are faced with is resulting from an environment that is not encouraging responsibility, values clarification or accountability," she said. "Student-athletes need to create a plan and make decisions to allow them to achieve their goals. Don't let things happen to you. Make them happen for you."