NCAA passes new financial aid rule; will help athletes

On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that it had voted in legislation that could alleviate scholarship constraints for those sports considered equivalency sports.
The vote followed a recommendation by the Student-Athlete Experience Committee as part of its review of financial aid rules. The rule goes into effect August 1.
The legislation, which allows student-athletes to combine student aid with athletic scholarship money, would make schools with higher tuitions more attractive to those on partial scholarships.
Up until now, equivalency sports, such as baseball, softball and track, received only a certain number of scholarships that were usually doled out in partial scholarships. Baseball, for example, is only allowed 11.7 scholarships.
Those scholarships had to be divided among the 27 players on the team that were allowed to have a scholarship. Previously, any money that a student-athlete received outside of the scholarship, like TOPS or a Pell Grant, counted against that sports number of scholarships allowed.
There were times that athletes would turn down non-athletic forms of financial aid so the sport they played did not take a hit on their scholarship limit. With the legislation passed by the NCAA, student-athletes can now pair any scholarship money with outside financial aid and not have it count against a certain sports limit of scholarships.
“It could be very helpful to us,” LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said about the legislation. “It certainly will be helpful at many institutions around the country. Theoretically, that could help us if you find the right student-athlete.”
“You could combine a partial baseball scholarship with need-based financial aid. It would make it more attractive to be able to attend LSU,” Mainieri continued.
“In general, I think this is very good for the athlete,” stated American Baseball Coaches Association Executive Director Craig Keilitz. “Especially, now, where every dollar counts for student athletes. I think this is a good piece of legislation that helps out every sport not named football or basketball.”
The NCAA also requested the Student-Athlete Experience Committee to review financial aid rules. The committee will examine counter numbers, average equivalencies and roster numbers per sport, the NCAA said in a release, which will “ensure the legislation is helping students as intended.”
Mainieri did show some restraint on how the rule would affect his university, because the NCAA did not take away the scholarship limit imposed on baseball. However, Mainieri was optimistic about how the rule would aid multi-sport athletes because of their ability to collect more financial aid than before.
“It may be more of an advantage to some schools than others,” Mainieri said. “There’s no way of knowing that for sure at this point.”