Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Scholarships can now be offered beyond year-to-year basis

ncaa

Mulityear scholarships are here to stay. For now, at least.

An effort to repeal the new rule narrowly fell short, as 62.12 percent of the 330 D-I schools (205) casting votes wanted it repealed. A 62.5 percent majority was needed. Two more schools would’ve gotten it done. Thirty-seven didn’t vote. (Voting was conducted online from Monday to Friday.)

So yes, that means many, many schools are unhappy at the idea of offering multiyear scholarships. But the thing is, it’s up to each school if they want to offer them. They can still offer a year-by-year scholarship if they choose.

“I am pleased that student-athletes will continue to benefit from the ability of institutions to offer athletics aid for more than one year, but it’s clear that there are significant portions of the membership with legitimate concerns,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said. “As we continue to examine implementation of the rule, we want to work with the membership to address those concerns.”

So what was the problem? After all, I’m not sure many people even knew scholarships were a year-to-year thing. From USA Today:

But it drew formal objections from enough schools to force reconsideration. They argued, among other things, that coaches were using multiyear grants as a recruiting enticement. The measure merely gives schools the option of making multiyear rather than one-year offers, and they can choose to which athletes those scholarships are given.

If an athlete’s at school and does everything they’re supposed to, a scholarship automatically becomes multiyear because it’s good for both parties. An ideal world wouldn’t need a rule like this. But I don’t mind something that gives athletes a little more security.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.