MEMORANDUM
TO: Division II Budget and Finance Committee.
FROM: Mike L. Racy
Vice President for Division II
Terri M. Steeb
Director of Division II.
SUBJECT: Changes for 2007-08 Conference Grant Application.
At the April meeting, the Budget and Finance Committee discussed several changes to the conference grant application. This memorandum highlights those changes.
1. Academic Success Rate Information. This past spring, Division II institutions were required to report the Academic Success Rate (ASR). The ASR is a supplemental graduation rate and is more accurate than the federal graduation rate, since the ASR also tracks non-scholarship student-athletes and transfers. Because institutions were required to report the ASR this past spring, the ASR should be reported, in addition to the federal rate, in the conference grant application.
2. Independent Audit. Currently, the conference grant application asks whether a conference does an annual audit. Based on applications for 2006-07 grant funds, it was determined that some conferences do not have an annual audit and some conferences were not willing to provide the audit if one was performed. The conference grant application will be updated to require an annual audit to be performed and, if requested, made available to the Division II Budget and Finance Committee.
3. Institutional Involvement. In reviewing grant applications this past spring, it was noted the some conferences completed the forms without first obtaining feedback from member institutions. Because the conference grant program is intended to enhance conference and institutional operations and provide professional development to administrators at conference member institutions, it should be required that the conference engage institutional administrators in the development of enhancements and requests for the conference grant program.
4. Conference Meeting Expenses. According to the grant applications, some conferences spend all or most of their conference grant funds for conference meeting expenses. It was noted that simply providing expenses for conference meetings is not truly an enhancement; therefore, it was discussed whether there should be a limit on the amount of the funds that could be used for conference meeting expenses. This item is a separate agenda item and, depending on the outcome, the necessary updates will be made to the conference grant application.
5. Faculty Athletics
Representative (FAR) and Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) Vote at Conference
Meetings. Current questions in the
application ask whether the SWA group meets separately on in conjunction with
the AD group and whether the SWA and FAR have a vote at conference
meetings. Conferences may have organized
their conference governance process to only permit one vote per institution, so
there may be several groups (e.g., FAR, SWA) that do not have a vote at
conference meetings. The original intent
of these questions was to determine whether the SWA and FAR have an active role
in the discussions and decision-making process for the conference governance
process issues and policies. The
questions will be reworded to seek the type of involvement
6. Percentage of Conference Budget is Conference Grant Funds. Since the conference grant funds are to serve as enhancements for the conference and its member institutions and not simply as operational expenses, a question will be included to request what percentage of the overall conference budget are the conference grant funds received from the NCAA.
7. NCAA Gender Equity and Issues Forum. Each year, the NCAA conducts a two-day seminar on gender equity issues for NCAA members. Understanding that certain professional development programs may be cost prohibitive to some institutions and conferences due to the length of the program, the Gender Equity and Issues Forum provides for professional development education in a more cost effective way. The opportunity to provide conference grant funds for SWAs to attend this event will be added to the list which currently lists the NACWAA Fall Forum and NACWAA-HERS.
For the 2006-07 conference grant funds, each conference was provided a base amount and a premium amount based on the number of active member institutions in the conference. The chart for the 2007-08 conference grant funds is attached for your review. Please note that the premium amount is based on the number of active member institutions in the conference for the 2006-07 academic year.
Finally, since the procedures for the conference grant program will require greater institutional involvement, the NCAA staff plans to send the conference grant applications for 2007-08 to conferences in early fall to provide ample time for the conferences to complete the information prior to the February deadline.
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