1. Panel Part 2
Specific Legislative Considerations to Ensure a Compliance Athletics Program/Bylaw 15 Panel
Chris Brown
Kristin DiBiase
Kayla Robles

2. Agenda
Financial aid legislation.
Best practices panel.
Case studies.
Top five financial aid pitfalls.

3. Financial Aid Legislation

4. Institutional scholarships and grants.
Financial Aid
Institutional scholarships and grants.
Financial aid from outside sources.
Athletics staff involvement policies.
This presentation will focus on the three most pertinent areas of the financial aid legislation:
Institutional scholarships and grants;
Financial aid from outside sources; and
Athletics staff involvement.

5. Financial Aid (cont.)
When was the last time your institution performed a scholarship and grant audit?
To get the conversation going, when was the last time your institution performed a scholarship and grant audit?

6. Are your financial aid procedures the same for all students?
Financial Aid (cont.)
Are your student-athletes receiving financial aid based on their athletics participation?
Are your financial aid procedures the same for all students?
Is financial aid from outside sources reported to your institution’s financial aid office?
Are your student-athletes receiving financial aid based on their athletics participation?
Are your financial aid procedures the same for all students?
Is financial aid from outside sources reported to your institution’s financial aid office?

7. Financial Aid (cont.)
When broken down, maintaining compliance with the financial aid legislation involves asking the following four questions:
Was athletic leadership, ability, participation or performance used as criterion in the formulation of the financial aid package?
Was a different financial aid procedure used for a student-athlete other than the existing official financial aid policies for the whole institution?
Was there any athletic staff involvement in the arrangement or modification of the student-athletes financial aid package?
Was there a matrix rating system that considered athletic ability, leadership

8. Financial Aid – Outside Sources
Student-athletes are permitted to receive financial aid from outside sources that consider athletics, provided:
The award is made on only one occasion (but may be disbursed over multiple years);
The donor of the aid shall not limit the recipient’s choice of institutions to a specific institution; and
The donor of the award is not connected to the recipient’s institution.
There is one exception to a SA receiving aid based on athletics participation.
Specifically, prior to initial collegiate enrollment, a PSA may receive a scholarship from an outside source provided it meets the following criteria:
The award is made on only one occasion (but may be disbursed over multiple years);
The donor of the aid shall not limit the recipient’s choice of institutions to a specific institution; and
The donor of the award is not connected to the recipient’s institution.

9. Financial Aid – Outside Sources (cont.)
This attached document was created by the Division III Financial Aid Committee to assist financial aid administrators in their review of outside scholarships.

10. Financial Aid – Athletics Staff Involvement
Shall not arrange or modify the financial aid package.
Prohibited from serving on member institution’s financial aid committee.
Prohibited from being involved in any manner in the review of the institutional financial assistance to be awarded to a student-athlete.
The legislation does not preclude institutional staff members in the athletics department from working in other areas on campus. However, an athletics department staff member is not permitted to work in any roll that has the ability to arrange or modify the financial aid package of a student-athlete.
Further, institutional staff members may not serve on an institution’s financial aid committee.
Finally, an institutional staff member is not permitted to be involved in any manner in the review of institutional financial assistance that will be awarded to student-athletes.

11. Unjustified Impact
Student-athlete packages should not be clearly distinguishable from the general pattern of awarding.
The proportion of student-athletes should be closely equivalent to the proportion of aid they receive.
NCAA Division III Bylaw
How do we assess impact?
The way in which we’ve seen this issue emerge in the past 10 years is through specific scholarships or grants. A scholarship or grant has been established using criteria that is free of athletics consideration, but on closer examination we find that a disproportionate number of athletes has received that scholarship or grant. It may be across a range of sports or within a particular sport. For some reason a significant number of the awardees are athletes. There’s an important distinction here, though. The compliance issue is NOT that there’s a disproportionate number of athletes, but rather the REASONS or REASONS for the disproportionate number have resulted in an advantage for athletes. Let’s use an example… Your school is in Pennsylvania and you’ve set up a grant to attract students from California to enroll at your school – free room and board. You roll out the program and after the first year you find that you’ve brought in 6 California students on this grant AND that all 6 are golfers. The program continues for the next 3 years and you find that of the 38 grants you’ve given out over 4 years, 32 of them went to golfers. You must ask the question why. Did we put substantial efforts into recruiting non-athletes? Were our golf coaches the only ones from our school recruiting there? Did we widely advertise the grant? Did this provide a recruiting advantage for our coaches? Again, while athletics was never considered in the awarding decision, the impact of the grant resulted in an advantage for a significant number of student-athletes. That’s where the potential compliance issue lies.

12. Assessment Cycle Compilation of Policies and Procedures
Regular and Periodic Meetings
Two-Part Test – Substantive and Impact
Utilize Available Resources
Ongoing Monitoring
You’ve got your people and you’ve identified all the resources. What’s next.
Let’s start at the top of the cycle here.
Get all your policies and procedures compiled in a manner ready for review.
Set up a meeting or meetings with the right people. Set the agenda. Have a game plan in place.
Take the deep dive. We like to say there’s a two-part test. First, review all policies and procedures to ensure athletics ability, participation, and leadership are NOT considered in the financial aid packaging process. Additionally, ensure that athletics personnel are not inappropriately involved in the process. Second, even for policies and procedures that are clear of athletics consideration, determine if any kind of “advantage” has been gained by athletes in your system.
This is not easy work in some cases. Consult your resources, both paper and human. And make your final determinations. If issues are found, correct them, and, if appropriate, report them.
But your job’s not done. The monitoring must be regular and periodic. This really is not any different than compliance exercises being implemented on your campuses right now in other areas.

13. ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Consistent%20FA%20Package%20Resource.pdf

14. Best Practices

15. Panelists
Name and contact information of panelists.

16. Case Studies

17. Small Group Discussion
Find a sheet of paper entitled “CASE STUDIES” at your table.
Discuss the two case studies with your table for minutes.
Determine if the student-athlete is permitted to receive the scholarship.
Identify someone in your small group who is willing to report out to the larger group.

18. Case Study One
A current student-athlete received an institutional special interest scholarship for community engagement.
The scholarship is for $5,000.
The criteria for the scholarship requires above a 3.0 GPA and a demonstration of a commitment to community service.
Athletics is not considered in this scholarship.

19. Case Study Two
An incoming prospective student-athlete received an outside scholarship for exceptional leadership in sport.
The scholarship is for $2,000 per year for a total of $8,000 over four years.
The criteria for the scholarship includes a 3.0 GPA and a demonstration of exceptional leadership in the sports of basketball, lacrosse or track and field.
There is no direct connection between the donor and the institution.

20. Case Study Three
An institution utilizes a matrix rating system during its admissions process. 
This matrix includes the review of a prospective student’s extracurricular activities, including athletics.
In addition, the institution utilizes the same matrix to determine a prospective students financial aid package. 
A student-athlete received a $3,000 scholarship based on the matrix.

21. Case Study Four
An incoming prospective student-athlete received an outside scholarship for athletics in the sport of tennis.
The scholarship is for $3,000 each year over four years.
The criteria for the scholarship includes a 3.2 GPA and a demonstration of varsity athletics participation at the high school level in the sport of tennis with the intent of participating at the collegiate level.
The scholarship agency requires the student-athlete to submit a GPA and current student-athlete status each year.
There is no direct connection between the donor and the institution.

22. Top Five
Common Financial Aid Pitfalls

23. Top Five – No. 5
Not monitoring external scholarships for athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance.

24. Top Five – No. 4
Athletics staff members involved in awarding aid.

25. Top Five – No. 3
Utilizing a matrix rating system that considers athletics ability, leadership, participation or performance when determining a student’s financial aid package. 

26. Top Five – No. 2
Not directing prospective student-athletes and currently enrolled student-athletes to the financial aid office for financial aid related questions.

27. Top Five – No. 1
Not auditing institutional scholarships and grants.

28. Questions?

29. We Want Your Feedback Your input is important.
Rate this session using the survey on the Regional Rules Seminar app.