REVISED
REPORT OF THE
NCAA DIVISION III
INTERPRETATIONS AND
LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
1. ACTION ITEMS.
a. Interpretation
of Athletics Department Staff Involvement with Admissions Office and/or
Financial Aid Office and Role of Admissions Office in Financial Aid Packaging.
(1) Recommendation. Approve the following official
interpretation:
Athletics Department Staff Involvement with
Financial Aid Office.
Institutional athletics staff members (e.g., athletics directors, coaches, senior woman administrators, etc.) are precluded from being involved in any manner in the review of the institutional financial aid to be awarded to a student-athlete per NCAA Bylaws 15.4.5 (athletics staff involvement) and 15.4.6 (matrix-rating system). Specifically, institutional athletics staff shall not be permitted to arrange or modify the financial aid package (as assembled by the financial aid officer or financial aid committee) and are prohibited from serving on member institutions' financial aid committees.
Per Bylaw 15.4.5 (athletics staff involvement) athletics department staff shall not influence a student-athlete's financial aid package, directly or indirectly. As such, athletics department staff members’ involvement or interaction with its institution’s financial aid office should be directed by the following:
(a) The athletics department may communicate with the clerical/support staff in the financial aid office in order to determine whether a particular prospect's financial aid forms have been submitted;
(b) The athletics department may not send a list of names of student-athletes to the financial aid office except to facilitate the annual NCAA Division III financial aid reporting process;
(c) The athletics department may not communicate with the financial aid office to arrange, modify, or otherwise influence the amount of a student-athlete’s financial aid package. The initial communication of a student-athlete’s financial aid package amount should occur between the student-athlete or his or her parents or guardian and the institution’s financial office; and
(d) A faculty member (e.g., chemistry professor) would not be precluded from serving on both an institutional faculty athletics committee (e.g., faculty athletics representative) and institutional financial aid committee as long as they are not a coach or athletics department staff member.
Athletics
Department Staff Involvement with Admissions Office and Role of Admissions
Office with Financial Aid Packaging.
Athletics department staff involved in any capacity with its institutional admissions office shall not administer, oversee or otherwise influence any admissions-matrix system or other admissions-rating formula that directly or indirectly impacts institutional financial-aid packaging decisions. For example, an institution that uses an admissions-matrix rating system to evaluate and rank incoming student applicants shall not allow athletics department staff to score, rank or otherwise influence any admissions rating of any student, including student-athletes, if the admissions-matrix rating score is used in any way to determine the financial aid package of any student, including student-athletes.
Permissible involvement of athletics department staff with its institution’s admissions office should be directed by the following:
(a) Enrollment
management personnel working primarily in admissions are permitted to be
employed by the athletics department provided those individuals have no role in
the administration of
financial aid (e.g., need analysis, aid packaging);
(b) It is permissible for a coach who is working in the admissions office of the institution to be involved in off-campus admissions programs directed at prospective students in general, provided any contact made with a prospect prior to the completion of the prospect's junior year in high school is not for the purpose of athletics recruitment (e.g., athletics recruiting presentation);
(c) A member institution’s coach, who
also serves as an admissions officer, is precluded from having any input
regarding the recipients of any institutionally administered grants or
scholarships (e.g., presidential, merit, academic, leadership, etc); and
(d) Any matrix-rating system admissions decision considering any factors of athletics ability or participation (e.g., high school athletics participation, outside club MVP award, all-tournament honor, high school letter winner, all-state/all-conference selection, athletics ability of any kind, etc.) shall be removed from the rating system prior to the student’s application being reviewed by the financial aid office.
[Reference: Bylaw 13.1.1.1
(high school prospects), Bylaw 15.4.1 (consistent financial aid package), Bylaw
15.4.5 (athletics staff involvement), Bylaw 15.4.6 (matrix-rating system)].
(2) Rationale. The committee reviewed current
legislation and interpretations that outline the permissible involvement and
actions of athletics staff members with institutional admissions and/or
financial aid offices on campus as it relates to awarding financial aid to student-athletes. The committee recognized the importance
of drawing clearer parameters regarding an athletics staff member’s
permissible involvement with admissions office and/or financial aid
office.
(3) Budget Impact. None.
b. Interpretations
Permitting Athletically Related Fund-raisers Outside the
Declared Playing Season.
(1) Recommendation. Archive official interpretation (a) and
approve official interpretation (b):
(a) Fund-raising
Activities Outside the Permissible 21- or 26-Week Playing Season Official
Interpretation (reference:
(b) Fund-raising Activities Outside the Declared Playing Season. A fund-raising activity conducted in accordance with Bylaw 12.1.1.4.2 (exception for institutional fund-raising activities involving the athletics ability of student-athletes) and Bylaw 17._.5.3 (annual exemptions, fund-raising activity) may be conducted during the academic year outside the permissible 18- or 19-week playing and practice season or during the summer but the events may not be required. Also, if conducted outside the declared playing and practice season, practice activities leading to the fund-raising event are not permitted.
(2) Rationale. The committee updated the previous
interpretation to reflect the current season-length limitations and, based on
the Division III playing and practice season legislation limiting
student-athletes out-of-season athletics commitments, to state that athletically
related fund-raising activities shall not be mandatory when they are conducted
outside the playing and practice season.
(3) Budget Impact. None.
c. Budget Impact Statement.
(1) Recommendation. Include a budget impact statement in all
Division III legislative proposals submitted by the membership and/or
governance structure.
(2) Rationale. The committee recognized the potential
benefit of including a budget-impact statement as it would inform the
membership of potential increased or reduced costs for member institutions or
the NCAA. The committee recommended
NCAA staff include a budget-impact statement with each proposal beginning with
the 2007 NCAA Convention legislation cycle.
(3) Budget Impact. None
2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.
Review Membership-Sponsored Legislation.
a.
Proposal No. 1-4 – Eligibility –
Seasons of Competition. The
committee supported this membership proposal that intends to eliminate the
seasons-of-participation rule in favor of using a season-of-competition
standard. The
committee discussed the merits of this proposal and identified the
student-athlete’s well-being component and a student-athlete’s
ability to participate in practice as an important form of participation and
should not be curtailed by the season-of-participation standard.
b. Proposal No. 1-5 – Eligibility – Seasons of Participation – Participation at any Collegiate Institution. The committee opposed this proposal which intends to charge student-athletes in non-NCAA Division III institutions with seasons of participation if the student-athlete practices beyond his or her first opportunity to compete. The committee agreed that the Division III season-of-participation standard should not implicate the use of Division III seasons for a student-athlete that is participating in a non-NCAA Division III institution.
c. Proposal No. 1-3 – Personnel – Limits on Scouting of Opponents Exhibition Contests. The committee supported this proposal which intends to permit Division III coaches to attend exhibition contests. The committee noted the scouting legislation prohibited coaches from attending unique exhibition contests scheduled in the sport of basketball against an NCAA Division I or II institution. The scouting prohibition should not apply to exhibition contests as coaches should not be prevented from attending popular, often well-publicized, early or preseason exhibition contests.