NCAA approves eligibility extension for spring athletes
3/31/2020 1:25:00 PM | Athletics
The NCAA Division I Council agreed Monday evening to grant an extra season of eligibility for all student-athletes, not just seniors, competing in spring sports that had its seasons cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Schools will also be allowed to adjust financial aid rules to carry more players on scholarships to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes in their last year of eligibility who decided to return for another season. Stating "In a nod to the financial uncertainty faced by higher education," the Division I Council is leaving it up to the schools to decide the amount of financial aid based on this past season given to players whose careers would have ended in 2020.
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"The NCAA Council vote for student-athletes to give spring sports student-athletes back their 2020 eligibility due to their season being cut short during this unprecedented time is a positive decision," Sam Houston State Director of Athletics Bobby Williams said.
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According to the Council, schools will be allowed to self-apply a one-year extension of eligibility for spring-sport student-athletes, effectively extending each student's five-year window to play four seasons by a year.
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"The Council's decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level," said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, who is also the athletics director at the University of Pennsylvania. "The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that."
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The Division I Council also decided to increase the roster limit in baseball for student-athletes impacted by the pandemic, the only spring sport with such a limit.
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The Council declined to extend the eligibility of winter-sport athletes who had finished or mostly completed their regular seasons.
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Schools will also be allowed to adjust financial aid rules to carry more players on scholarships to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes in their last year of eligibility who decided to return for another season. Stating "In a nod to the financial uncertainty faced by higher education," the Division I Council is leaving it up to the schools to decide the amount of financial aid based on this past season given to players whose careers would have ended in 2020.
Â
"The NCAA Council vote for student-athletes to give spring sports student-athletes back their 2020 eligibility due to their season being cut short during this unprecedented time is a positive decision," Sam Houston State Director of Athletics Bobby Williams said.
Â
According to the Council, schools will be allowed to self-apply a one-year extension of eligibility for spring-sport student-athletes, effectively extending each student's five-year window to play four seasons by a year.
Â
"The Council's decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level," said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, who is also the athletics director at the University of Pennsylvania. "The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that."
Â
The Division I Council also decided to increase the roster limit in baseball for student-athletes impacted by the pandemic, the only spring sport with such a limit.
Â
The Council declined to extend the eligibility of winter-sport athletes who had finished or mostly completed their regular seasons.
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