Schools and Students facing Penalties due to Reform Package Approved Two Years Ago

Summary: Students failing to meet NCAA standards for eligibility and progress toward graduation could lose scholarships for one year under the academic reform package approved by the NCAA two years ago. About 55 percent of the member colleges and universities have completed the reporting. The remaining 45 percent is still requesting adjustments or waivers.

Students failing to meet NCAA standards for eligibility and progress toward graduation could lose scholarships for one year under the academic reform package approved by the NCAA two years ago. About 55 percent of the member colleges and universities have completed the reporting. The remaining 45 percent is still requesting adjustments or waivers. The NCAA last month released its findings on graduation rates, and it reported 76 percent of Division I athletes who entered college in 1995-96 had graduated. The separate academic progress report, expected by late February, will be based on the number of athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full time each term. Colleges will be given yearly assessments. They will have the opportunity to explain unusual circumstances for a low progress rate and to appeal any penalties. He said individual schools that face penalties already have been notified, but they would not be identified until the complete progress rate list is finished. The penalties will begin this year and will result in the loss of a scholarship for teams that fail to meet the standard. Harsher penalties, beginning in 2007-08, will be assessed for repeated academic failure. Those may include scholarship reductions, recruiting limitations and ineligibility for preseason or postseason competition. The most extreme cases could result in restricted NCAA membership. The proposal, one of about 140 heard during the NCAA convention, will be sent to member schools and conferences for comment before it is considered again in April, when the council will make its recommendation to the board of directors, said David Berst, NCAA Division I vice president. Under the plan, the two-in-four rule would be eliminated and schools would be allowed to participate in an event each year, but in the same event only once in four years. It also would designate the second Friday in November as the common start date for events and the regular season. The total number of regular-season games would remain at 28, but participation in an exempt tournament -- such as the Preseason NIT -- would count as only one game.