a. Recommendation. Sponsor legislation to amend NCAA Bylaw 14.2.3.3 to delete the language currently stating that the program must be for "outstanding" students and that the student must be classified as a "special student." The subcommittee also recommends that the requirement that the student is not considered to be regularly matriculated and is not eligible for extracurricular activities including athletics be replaced with the requirement that: the student-athlete must have not officially graduated from high school and does not participate in intercollegiate athletics while enrolled in the joint program. The subcommittee notes that the requirement that the student must be enrolled in a joint high-school/college academic program for high-school students, in which the courses count as both high-school graduation credit and college credit will remain.

b. Rationale: At its annual meeting, the subcommittee met with Divisions I and II and one of the reports noted that those divisions had reviewed and granted waivers where student-athletes used a semester due to a joint high-school/college academic program that does not designate itself as designed for "outstanding" students or even has a "special" classification program. In those cases, the student-athletes met the intent of the rule, but the program lacked the specific classification required by the current legislation. Regarding the suggested replacement language, the subcommittees noted that they had reviewed waivers where the college program had open participation programs, and even though the student-athlete had no intent to and did not participate, the student-athlete triggered the rule. Although Division III has not had a waiver request regarding this issue, the subcommittee noted that this proposal would deregulate portions of the rule without compromising the intent. With the subcommittee’s recommendation, the student-athlete will now be empowered to decide whether to participate and, thus, trigger the use of a semester, instead of being subject to the policies of the college. Finally, the intent of the legislation will not be compromised because the students who do not engage in the participation opportunities are gaining no competitive advantage while preparing academically for college.