The NCAA Division II Management Council Subcommittee for Infractions Appeals has upheld findings and penalties involving impermissible financial aid to student-athletes in several sports at Albany State University (Georgia).

The appeals committee reaffirmed findings issued March 9, 2000, by the Division II Committee on Infractions that the university exceeded maximum financial aid equivalency limits in several sports for a period of six years and failed to exercise institutional control by not appropriately monitoring the awarding of institutional financial aid to student-athletes. The committee also reaffirmed the penalties imposed by the Committee on Infractions pertaining to reductions in grants-in-aid.

The university appealed two findings of the Committee on Infractions:

From 1993-94 through 1998-99, the university exceeded maximum financial aid equivalency limits in several sports. The overawards resulted from the university providing athletically related financial aid and other countable institutional aid to student-athletes without appropriate monitoring to ensure the award levels were not exceeded.

Albany State demonstrated a lack of institutional control and monitoring of its athletics programs by failing to monitor the awarding of institutionally administered financial aid to student-athletes, and implement appropriate administrative procedures for the review of institutionally administered financial aid to student-athletes to ensure compliance with NCAA legislation.

The university also appealed the penalties imposed by the Committee on Infractions.

Upon review, the appeals committee found no evidence that demonstrated that the university's financial aid data, as shown in the November 30, 1999, Division II Committee on Infractions hearing record, were incorrectly calculated. As a result, it upheld the Committee on Infractions' finding that the university exceeded maximum financial aid equivalency limits in several sports over a six-year period.

The appeals committee also concluded that the facts clearly showed that the university failed to monitor awards of financial aid to student-athletes and therefore showed a lack of institutional control. The committee commended Albany State for quickly implementing a program to prevent such violations in the future but said that necessary safeguards were missing from 1993-94 through 1998-99.

In addition, the appeals committee upheld the penalties imposed against the university because of the competitive advantage gained by the overawarding of financial aid, the length of time in which the financial aid violations occurred and the significant lack of institutional control.

The members of the Division II Management Council Subcommittee for Infractions Appeals who heard the case are: Kenneth J. Borden, professor of chemistry, University of Indianapolis; Lisa C. Colvin, associate professor of health, kinesiology and recreation, Southern Arkansas University; Kaye P. Crook, associate professor of mathematics and chair of the committee, Coker College; Doug Echols, commissioner, South Atlantic Conference; Bruce Harger, director of athletics, Drury University; and Jerry M. Hughes, director of athletics, Central Missouri State University.

A copy of the complete report is available upon request or online at NCAA Online (www.
ncaa.org).