The world of Division III athletics is not the pure, pristine atmosphere portrayed by the NCAA. Despite the organization’s rules prohibiting any member school in Division III from offering an athletic-based scholarship to a prospective student, the fact is it happens with regularity.
“Many private Division III programs are giving scholarships based on athletic ability,” said Dr. Howard Y. Patterson, the Vice President for Student Affairs/Athletics of the University of Texas-Tyler. “They are called presidential scholarships, leadership scholarships, special talent scholarships, minority scholarships, etc.”
The administrator quickly points out such scholarships are not illegal, “except when they are awarded disproportionately” across an institution’s student population. In other words, as long these scholarships are not predominantly going to recruiting student-athletes there has been no foul committed.
Recent figures show NCAA Division III schools are top-heavy in the ‘private v. public’ designation with 81 percent of the membership being private colleges and universities. Introduce the ‘endowment’ factor into the scholarship equation, and many of the private universities are in the same recruiting boat as the public schools.
“Elite colleges benefit from the larger endowments,” said Patterson. “Roster filling, the practice of preferential treatment to fill athletic needs by allotting admission ‘slots’ to athletes, can result in having 60 percent of the student body made up of athletes.”
All colleges will utilize Pell Grants and other forms of student financial aid in helping to land an athletic recruit, but the fact is the additional costs of attending college can be sliced considerably when the recruit attends a school with a healthier endowment. The concept is not limited to Division III schools. In the book, “Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values” students excelling in athletics have a four-to-one advantage over other applicants to be accepted into an Ivy League school.
How much of an advantage goes to a private school with a larger endowment? “When the final cost of attending a $50,000 a year private institution is about the same as a $16,000 a year state college, something is fishy,” said Patterson. “A private school with endowment funds can determine the student need to be 80 percent and pick up the tab.”
Patterson said the NCAA knows this is going on, and a few years ago conducted a Financial Aid Audit. Those results have yet to be made public. According to Patterson, “If the sample population does not contain ‘the right’ student-athletes the results will not reflect the extent of those who receive the extra aid.”
Feature image via K. Lucas/golutes.com
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