Beginning in 1998, David Nduwayo was fulfilling two dreams at once: He was studying for a degree in business management in the United States and playing tennis at the collegiate level.

A native of war-torn Burundi, Nduwayo and his siblings escaped from the turmoil of his homeland to pursue their education aspirations. He received scholarships to play tennis, first at Chicago State University. He later transferred twice, first to Clark Atlanta University and, when Clark Atlanta discontinued its men's tennis program, to Grambling State University.

When his scholarship eligibility ran out earlier this year, Nduwayo's education could have ended as well. His parents, still living in Burundi, are struggling financially, and his sisters and brother are scattered in different countries throughout the world in an attempt to escape the violence in their native country.

Nduwayo's situation caught the attention of an academic advisor, who helped Nduwayo apply for and receive an NCAA Degree-Completion Award.

The degree-completion grants are the result of an NCAA-funded program that helps students who have exhausted their athletics eligibility but still need 30 credit hours or less to complete their degrees. The award pays for tuition, books, and room and board for full-time students who are approved by a committee. Often, the award means a student-athlete who might otherwise be forced to abandon a dream of an education can complete their studies.

Nduwayo's tale isn't the only success story for the 15-year-old degree-completion program.

Josef Novotny, also a scholarship tennis player, decided after a year at one school that another institution might better fit his needs. A native of the Czech Republic, Novotny spent a year at home trying to find another school that would help him achieve his goals on the tennis court and in his film studies major. That year off also cost him a year of athletics eligibility and the transfer put him behind in some general education requirements at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and class sequences necessary for his major at his new school.

Novotny's parents are teachers in the Czech Republic and don't make enough to pay for an American education for their son. Like Nduwayo, his status as an international student makes it difficult for him to obtain private or public loans to pay for tuition, fees and other necessities. The end of his scholarship could have ended his education, just 13 credits shy of a degree in film studies.

Jen´e Klostermann, an Illinois State University track and field student-athlete, is another good example. She expects to graduate this December and start work as a high-school business teacher soon after. When it came time to do her student teaching, a requirement for her degree, it was also track and field season, making it virtually impossible for Klostermann to fulfill the teaching obligation and compete in her sport.

All three student-athletes are classic case studies of a program that protects the NCAA mission of providing for their educational interests.

But hundreds of student-athletes like them across the country applied for awards in the last year and were denied, in part because funding for the program has remained steady while applications and tuition have both increased significantly.

When the program first started, the committee was able to grant awards to about 50 percent of applicants. That number has fallen to 35 percent.

Maintaining the benefit

Nduwayo said he used the tennis court as a way to escape the troubles of his homeland, to pay for his education and to travel. Without the NCAA's degree-completion program, Nduwayo would have been unable to continue his education.

The program also helped Novotny, only 12 hours away from a degree. Hearing he would receive the award solved a lot of problems for him.

"I was so relieved because I was so close to finishing my degree. I'd been trying to work hard for the entire four years, and all of a sudden I (nearly) had to quit with four classes (left)," he said.

For Klostermann, the degree-completion program meant that she could do her student teaching without having to hold down another paying job to fund her last semester. She also is volunteering as a track and field coach at her hometown high school.

"This award gives me time to help out my community and give back," she said.

All three student-athletes would recommend the award program to others in their position.

"It would be selfish of me not to," Nduwayo said.

The degree-completion program began with money from the first television contract between CBS and the NCAA, inked in 1982. Officials set up an endowment under the auspices of the now-defunct NCAA Foundation and in 1989 established the program, intended to give student-athletes who could not complete their education during their five-year eligibility period an opportunity to graduate.

Leo Munson, chair of the committee that administers the program, said the increasing interest in the degree-completion program is "an interesting conundrum." Munson, associate vice-chancellor for academic support at Texas Christian University, said attention to the program has coincided with an increase in the number of student-athletes who graduate within the prescribed four- or five-year period, and the fact that athletics directors are being held more accountable for their student-athletes.

At the same time, however, the program hasn't received any recent increases in funding, and with rising tuition costs and an increase in applications, the program's percentage of applicants who receive awards has fallen. In 2003, the program awarded between $950,000 and $1 million in scholarships, Munson said.

"In the years of the program, I have no idea what the costs of education have risen to, but they've been influential," he said. "Our funding has stayed static and the cost of funding an individual's education has gone up dramatically."

Personal circumstances

The program is designed for student-athletes who are within 30 hours of graduation. The application review process has a point system based on a number of factors, including previous academic success, involvement in activities outside of a student-athlete's sport, and financial need. However, Munson said, there also is a subjective portion.

"We will look at something that is within the application that should be considered but is not within the point system," Munson said. For example, he said, one student who was granted an award had received a heart transplant while attending school.

"We will look at people who have those stories, and that's the side of this thing that makes it so much fun," he said.

A former financial aid director, Munson said those administrators aren't allowed to take a student's personal triumphs and tragedies into account when awarding most financial aid packages. But the degree-completion program can.

Munson's committee meets twice a year to determine awards for the two terms: fall/winter and spring/summer. The group's next meeting is scheduled for late October, during which members will review applications for the spring/summer term received by the October 8 deadline.

Munson said he hopes to see the program maintain its current funding at the very least,

and expand to include more students receiving awards at best. Including student-athletes who have been away from collegiate settings for 10 years or more is especially important, he said.

"I sure wish there were ways that we could identify the 30- and 35-year-old athletes," he said. "In my mind, that's the reason for this program, trying to find those who came up short and get them back through the system and graduated."

The majority of students receiving awards are those who are "sixth year" students, simply continuing their education to its completion. Officials said the committee is moving toward finding the students who won't finish their degrees without help.

The program's budget is already set through the 2006-07 fiscal year, and that means that with increases in applications, a student who requests an award will continue to have less than a 50 percent chance of receiving it.

"Without any real increase in funding," Munson said, "all the committee can do is base the amount we award upon what's currently in the fund."

Munson and others are hoping that doesn't decrease the number of success stories from the Nduwayos, Novotnys and Klostermanns hoping to be student-athletes who cross the graduation finish line instead of not completing the race.

By the Numbers

1. How much in award money has been disbursed total since the program began?

$9,980,254

2. How many students have been helped?

1740

3. How much is given away per year, generally speaking?

$950,000

4. What is the percentage of students who receive the award and earn their degree?

98%

5. When is the next time the budget is up for review and what fiscal year is that for?

2006-07 budget, to be reviewed in 2006