As debates heat up among sport and academic professionals, the NCAA made a groundbreaking move Thursday and approved a measure that will provide additional compensation to student-athletes.

The Division I Board of Directors adopted a package that — in addition to more stringent academic standards — will give athletic conferences the option of providing up to an additional $2,000 to student-athletes on top of scholarships, according to a report from the NCAA provided by Erik Christianson, director of public and media relations.

This ruling will apply to head-count sports — limited to men’s football, basketball and four women’s sports — and equivalency sports that reach the value of a full scholarship, according to the NCAA website. Head-count sports award a set number of full scholarships to members of the team, while equivalency sports have a total scholarship allowance to provide team members, according to a September 2007 article published on Stack magazine’s website.

‘This isn’t about paying student-athletes, but it is about being fair and recognizing that in Division I it ought to be important to meet this need,’ said Graham Spanier, chair of the Student-Athlete Well-Being Working Group and Pennsylvania State University president, on the NCAA website.

The additional funds awarded to athletes are to address the ‘miscellaneous expenses’ student-athletes have, according to the NCAA website.

With academics and the time commitment associated with playing collegiate sports, student-athletes don’t have time for a job and need money, said John Wolohan, professor of sport management at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

‘I think they needed to do something,’ Wolohan said of the changes.

Wolohan acknowledged that he is unaware of the financial circumstances of Syracuse University, but he said the majority of collegiate athletic departments do not make a profit. Even if the aid comes from athletics, the department will make less and could drain more academic resources.

‘When the board approved giving student-athletes who receive the full amount of aid an additional miscellaneous expense allowance, they also allowed schools to remove non-athletics aid from the team limit calculation,’ according to the NCAA website.

This recent change is a fraction of what many athletic experts are calling for: paying athletes.

When Wolohan spoke of providing athletes compensation for playing sports, he referenced previous rulings that determined student-athletes do not fulfill an integral part of the university and cannot be considered employees.

Depending on how many student-athletes receive additional aid from this new change, universities could be providing hundreds of thousands of dollars, Wolohan said. ‘That extra money has to come out somewhere,’ he said.

Academic standards were also strengthened, increasing the minimum Academic Progress Rate and implementing new penalties, among other academic changes.

Though the financial changes are far from giving players compensation and making them university employees, they do provide aid to give student-athletes the necessary funds to afford the college lifestyle.

While he acknowledged the money has to come from somewhere else, Wolohan cautioned naysayers.

‘Is it the worst thing in the world?’ Wolohan said. ‘No.’

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Published on November 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm