Divisions I and II have approved changes in the way the NCAA membership services staff will review requests for accommodations from prospective student-athletes with disabilities.

The changes approved by the Division I Academics/Eligibility/
Compliance Cabinet and the Division II Academic Requirements Committee in February should lead to a drastic reduction in paperwork and an easier initial-eligibility process for students with disabilities.

Currently, prospects with disabilities, or their parents, submit information to the NCAA membership services staff, which then determines whether the prospect is eligible for the following accommodations in meeting initial-eligi-
bility standards:

Use of courses for students with disabilities that are designated on the high school's list of NCAA-approved core courses;

Use of approved core courses taken before the student enrolls full time in college, including courses taken in the summer after high-school graduation;

Use of ACT/SAT scores achieved during nonstandard administrations; and

Ability to file an initial-eligibility waiver if the student does not meet the initial-eligibility requirements.

Using the nonstandard test as the trigger mechanism would reduce the disability services work of about 2,300 files per year (the staff has processed more than 9,000 cases since 1997). The staff estimates that each case takes about one-half hour to process (including logging, decision, notification and telephone work). The change also translates into significant cost savings (fax expenses and telephone calls). Also, the process would be much simpler for prospects since most would not need to file with disability services at the NCAA because they would have received accommodations simply by receiving a nonstandard test administration.

Provisions in Bylaw 14 allowed the AEC Cabinet and the Division II ARC to approve the changes without requiring proposed legislation. Though the changes do not require approval from other entities, both groups agreed to wait until the Divisions I and II Management Councils review the recommendations at their April meetings before implementing the new process.

The consent decree does not require the NCAA to use a particular means for approving students with disabilities for accommodations, but it does require the NCAA to provide those accommodations.

Because of that, the membership services staff began to search for a more efficient method of processing those cases.

The membership services staff expects the new process to be ready for implementation in May, thus benefiting this year's graduating class.

The membership services staff expects such requests to be fewer than 50 per year.