Western State Colorado University Intercollegiate Athletics Policies ...
Western State Colorado University Department of
Intercollegiate Athletics Policies, Procedures and Plans (3P) Manual Section: Compliance – Financial Aid Last revised and updated and revised July 24, 2016
Athletic Aid – Scholarships and Waivers Athletic Aid is awarded with consideration given to both academic and athletic criteria and are subject to equivalencies established by the NCAA and the Conference. Initial Awards Initial athletic aid awards are determined by two primary categories of criteria: 1. Academic Criteria a. Entering freshmen must be partial qualifiers or qualifiers as noted in NCAA Bylaw. b. Transfer students must demonstrate that they have been making satisfactory progress as defined by the institution last attended and must be eligible for participation at the time of the transfer. 2. Athletic Criteria a. Scholarships will be awarded at the discretion of coaches in respect to the studentathlete's: o Ability, good citizenship, character, and academic standing. Renewals Continuing student-athletes must satisfy all NCAA bylaws for continuing eligibility including but not limited to all Progress Toward Degree (PTD) requirements currently required by the NCAA. All athletic financial aid is awarded on a one-year basis as per NCAA regulations. At the end of each year it is the responsibility of each head coach to determine if that aid is going to be continued, reduced or canceled. If the aid is to be reduced or canceled, the student-athlete must be informed in writing prior to July 1 of the coming year. In the notification the student-athlete is informed of the opportunity to appeal this decision. It is the responsibility of the student-athlete to request the appeal to the Director of Financial Aid. The decision of the Financial Aid Appeal Committee is final. A copy of this policy is located in the student-athlete handbook as well. Equivalencies As dictated by the NCAA Division II and as directed by Part Three, Section 301 of the RMAC regulations, which states that NCAA DII permissible aid equivalencies used in all sports except Football, where the total cannot exceed 32 equivalencies, will be as listed in current NCAA bylaws. Cost of Attendance / Grant in Aid monitoring The Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance shall work with the Director of Student Financial Services (or their designee) to ensure on an annual basis that NCAA guidelines have been followed for individual and team financial aid awards. The Director of Student Financial Services (or their designee) shall monitor student aid awards in an ongoing fashion to ensure that they are not exceeding NCAA bylaw financial aid limitations. Appeals Process The Financial Aid Appeals Committee will hear appeals on decisions made to reduce or cancel athletic financial aid. This process is defined in the student-athlete handbook.
Work Study Each sport program within the Western Athletic Department will likely benefit on an annual basis from the employment of Western students in work study positions. While there is the potential for great 2
reward with these opportunities there is also a great responsibility for the supervisors of these work study students. Supervisors have the responsibility to steward the position’s work load and scheduling. They need to be able to disseminate and delegate pertinent training and tasks on a routine basis in order for the supervisor / employee relationship to be highly functional and productive. A failure to properly follow through on these responsibilities can leave the supervisor, the Athletic Department, and the institution at risk. As such the following directives should be followed for ALL work study positions within the Western State Athletics Department: 1. JOB DESCRIPTION: The supervisor for the proposed position must complete a job description for each work study position they plan on attempting to hire. This job description must be approved by and on file with the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance. 2. AFFADAVIT: Any student-athlete employed within the Western Athletic Department as a work study student must complete a Student-Athlete Work Study Affidavit. This form must be signed by both the staff member employing the student-athlete and the student-athlete themselves.
3. At no time may any one program hire their current student-athletes to a number of work study positions exclusively for their own program totaling more than 5% of its average roster size (as determined by the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance) if said positions report directly to a member of that team’s coaching staff. a. RATIONALE: Inherently the athletic administration at Western has no issue with studentathletes being positioned in work study positions throughout the department. However, some examples of why the administration has trepidation with a coach hiring an excessive amount of their own team’s student-athletes: i. COMPLICATION: When the supervisor also serves as an individual’s coach it creates a relationship which at best becomes nuanced. At worst it can become overly complicated particularly when team membership may change. Often if a student-athlete departs a team because of a strained relationship with the coach that strain will carry over to the employee / supervisor relationship as well. Minimizing the chances of this happening are encouraged and the aforementioned limit (7.3.3) on the number of student-athletes can help protect the supervisor / coach and the department. ii. MANAGEMENT: Providing substantial and meaningful work for work study students (or any employee) takes additional time for planning, training, and ongoing supervision. Given that all of Western’s programs feature coaching staffs that are short on time due to the lack of full time staff it seems prudent to hire additional work study staff to help. However, there is a “tipping point” where having too many work study students becomes extremely problematic. Once this tipping point has been crossed the level of planning and follow through required to manage a large group of work study students becomes unachievable in light of the coach’s other full-time responsibilities. iii. PERCEPTION: As the coach – player / supervisor – employee relationship becomes more problematic and the management of the positions becomes 3
overwhelming there is a propensity for a program to become a “work study hour mill” in which a student (athlete or otherwise) gets paid to just “hang out” and not actually accomplish any meaningful work. In such situations this is not good stewardship by our department and its staff members. Such actions also leave us open to investigation by external groups. These integrity threats (real or perceived) have to be guarded against.
b. Members of the staff may appeal the policy standards above to the Athletics Director through the following mechanism: i. WRITTEN APPEAL: The staff member must make written appeal (email will suffice) to the Western State Athletics Director and the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance. The appeal must contain solid rationale for the request detailing how the work study positions will best be utilized if they are filled by student-athletes. Also specific details must be provided regarding how the staff member will safeguard themselves, the student-athlete, the department, and the institution from impropriety. ii. FUNDING: If 7.3.1 – 7.3.4 are satisfied then a work study position may be proposed to Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance. However, the potential employee must be funded by state and / or federal dollars. Institutional funding is only allowed with written permission from the Athletics Director and / or the Associate Athletics Director.
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Intercollegiate Athletics Policies, Procedures and Plans (3P) Manual Section: Compliance – Financial Aid Last revised and updated and revised July 24, 2016
Athletic Aid – Scholarships and Waivers Athletic Aid is awarded with consideration given to both academic and athletic criteria and are subject to equivalencies established by the NCAA and the Conference. Initial Awards Initial athletic aid awards are determined by two primary categories of criteria: 1. Academic Criteria a. Entering freshmen must be partial qualifiers or qualifiers as noted in NCAA Bylaw. b. Transfer students must demonstrate that they have been making satisfactory progress as defined by the institution last attended and must be eligible for participation at the time of the transfer. 2. Athletic Criteria a. Scholarships will be awarded at the discretion of coaches in respect to the studentathlete's: o Ability, good citizenship, character, and academic standing. Renewals Continuing student-athletes must satisfy all NCAA bylaws for continuing eligibility including but not limited to all Progress Toward Degree (PTD) requirements currently required by the NCAA. All athletic financial aid is awarded on a one-year basis as per NCAA regulations. At the end of each year it is the responsibility of each head coach to determine if that aid is going to be continued, reduced or canceled. If the aid is to be reduced or canceled, the student-athlete must be informed in writing prior to July 1 of the coming year. In the notification the student-athlete is informed of the opportunity to appeal this decision. It is the responsibility of the student-athlete to request the appeal to the Director of Financial Aid. The decision of the Financial Aid Appeal Committee is final. A copy of this policy is located in the student-athlete handbook as well. Equivalencies As dictated by the NCAA Division II and as directed by Part Three, Section 301 of the RMAC regulations, which states that NCAA DII permissible aid equivalencies used in all sports except Football, where the total cannot exceed 32 equivalencies, will be as listed in current NCAA bylaws. Cost of Attendance / Grant in Aid monitoring The Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance shall work with the Director of Student Financial Services (or their designee) to ensure on an annual basis that NCAA guidelines have been followed for individual and team financial aid awards. The Director of Student Financial Services (or their designee) shall monitor student aid awards in an ongoing fashion to ensure that they are not exceeding NCAA bylaw financial aid limitations. Appeals Process The Financial Aid Appeals Committee will hear appeals on decisions made to reduce or cancel athletic financial aid. This process is defined in the student-athlete handbook.
Work Study Each sport program within the Western Athletic Department will likely benefit on an annual basis from the employment of Western students in work study positions. While there is the potential for great 2
reward with these opportunities there is also a great responsibility for the supervisors of these work study students. Supervisors have the responsibility to steward the position’s work load and scheduling. They need to be able to disseminate and delegate pertinent training and tasks on a routine basis in order for the supervisor / employee relationship to be highly functional and productive. A failure to properly follow through on these responsibilities can leave the supervisor, the Athletic Department, and the institution at risk. As such the following directives should be followed for ALL work study positions within the Western State Athletics Department: 1. JOB DESCRIPTION: The supervisor for the proposed position must complete a job description for each work study position they plan on attempting to hire. This job description must be approved by and on file with the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance. 2. AFFADAVIT: Any student-athlete employed within the Western Athletic Department as a work study student must complete a Student-Athlete Work Study Affidavit. This form must be signed by both the staff member employing the student-athlete and the student-athlete themselves.
3. At no time may any one program hire their current student-athletes to a number of work study positions exclusively for their own program totaling more than 5% of its average roster size (as determined by the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance) if said positions report directly to a member of that team’s coaching staff. a. RATIONALE: Inherently the athletic administration at Western has no issue with studentathletes being positioned in work study positions throughout the department. However, some examples of why the administration has trepidation with a coach hiring an excessive amount of their own team’s student-athletes: i. COMPLICATION: When the supervisor also serves as an individual’s coach it creates a relationship which at best becomes nuanced. At worst it can become overly complicated particularly when team membership may change. Often if a student-athlete departs a team because of a strained relationship with the coach that strain will carry over to the employee / supervisor relationship as well. Minimizing the chances of this happening are encouraged and the aforementioned limit (7.3.3) on the number of student-athletes can help protect the supervisor / coach and the department. ii. MANAGEMENT: Providing substantial and meaningful work for work study students (or any employee) takes additional time for planning, training, and ongoing supervision. Given that all of Western’s programs feature coaching staffs that are short on time due to the lack of full time staff it seems prudent to hire additional work study staff to help. However, there is a “tipping point” where having too many work study students becomes extremely problematic. Once this tipping point has been crossed the level of planning and follow through required to manage a large group of work study students becomes unachievable in light of the coach’s other full-time responsibilities. iii. PERCEPTION: As the coach – player / supervisor – employee relationship becomes more problematic and the management of the positions becomes 3
overwhelming there is a propensity for a program to become a “work study hour mill” in which a student (athlete or otherwise) gets paid to just “hang out” and not actually accomplish any meaningful work. In such situations this is not good stewardship by our department and its staff members. Such actions also leave us open to investigation by external groups. These integrity threats (real or perceived) have to be guarded against.
b. Members of the staff may appeal the policy standards above to the Athletics Director through the following mechanism: i. WRITTEN APPEAL: The staff member must make written appeal (email will suffice) to the Western State Athletics Director and the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance. The appeal must contain solid rationale for the request detailing how the work study positions will best be utilized if they are filled by student-athletes. Also specific details must be provided regarding how the staff member will safeguard themselves, the student-athlete, the department, and the institution from impropriety. ii. FUNDING: If 7.3.1 – 7.3.4 are satisfied then a work study position may be proposed to Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations and Compliance. However, the potential employee must be funded by state and / or federal dollars. Institutional funding is only allowed with written permission from the Athletics Director and / or the Associate Athletics Director.
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