Part of the NCAA Modernization Committee’s efforts to simplify the NCAA rule book includes weighing the compliance monitoring burdens rules present vs. the upside those same rules and monitoring efforts offer in relation to supporting NCAA membership principles and commitments like maintaining institutional control and creating responsible recruiting standards.
One sequence in the high school to college transition for an athlete has continued to oscillate over the years. Specifically, the sequence of when and how a prospect triggers “student-athlete” status. That status change eventually opens the door for the involved NCAA school to have more latitude to provide benefits and support to the athlete. What has happened with this sequence is that so many different actions could trigger student-athlete status such as enrolling in summer school or reporting to an orientation session. There became six different ways a student-athlete could trigger student-athlete status. On the flip side, some of those triggers didn’t necessarily ensure the student-athlete was going to enroll full-time in the fall and actually practice and play their sport.
Division I recently adopted a proposal (2022-3) to simplify both what would trigger “student-athlete” status as well as create reversion criteria which would prompt a student-athlete to revert back to “prospective student-athlete” status if that individual did not attend class while enrolled in a minimum full-time program of studies during the first regular academic term after the individual completes all requirements for high school graduation requirements or all transfer academic eligibility requirements becomes a prospective student-athlete.
Such an individual who didn’t meet the enrollment and eligibility criteria would revert back to
prospective-student-athlete status until one of the following happens:
(a) The individual officially registers and enrolls in a minimum full-time program of studies and
attends classes in any term of a four-year collegiate institution's regular academic year
(excluding summer);
(b) The individual participates in a regular squad practice or competition at a four-year collegiate institution that occurs before the beginning of any term;
(c) The individual participates in required summer athletic activities before initial full-time
enrollment at the certifying institution;
(d) The individual officially registers, enrolls and attends classes during the certifying institution's summer term prior to initial full-time enrollment at the certifying institution; or
(e) The individual reports to an institutional orientation session that is open to all incoming students within 14 calendar days prior to the opening day of classes of a regular academic year term.
One of the primary reasons this reversion language was added was to curb Division I members ability to provide continuous benefits for an indefinite period of time to an individual who triggered a low-hurdle student-athlete status trigger like attending an orientation and then not enrolling for a semester or two yet continuing to receive certain benefits from the school where they attended orientation.
The modernization changes like the matter adopted via Proposal 2022-3 is intending to finesse the nuances and balancing acts that NCAA rules already play— trying to create clear(er) rules that can be monitored, that promote fairness, and help provide reasonable benefits to student-athletes without creating unintended consequences and unfair advantages.
