Academic scholarship questions from above.
https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/search/bylawView?id=25624#result
Good luck with that. A lot of indefinite language leaves a lot of wiggle room for interpretation.
Generally speaking, a student can receive academic scholarship and still play athletics.
(Note that the NCAA has requirements for accepting that a scholarship is truly academic.) This is really just an accounting difference for the given school. And that is because the
real question comes down to whether or not that academic scholarship still counts against the athletic scholarship limit.
And that issue is given a circular definition by the NCAA:
"A "counter" is an individual who is receiving institutional financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport."
Well duh!
I have a vague memory (that might be totally wrong) that an academic scholarship would
not count against a scholarship limit if the athlete was not otherwise offered an athletic scholarship to any comparable school. In other words, if an athlete has no Div I athletic scholarship offers, then they can receive an academic scholarship and be an athlete at a Div I school without counting against that school's sport's scholarship limit.
Bylaw 15.02.9 at least indirectly seems to imply such a distinction:
Recruited Student-Athlete. For purposes of Bylaw
15, a recruited student-athlete is a student-athlete who, as a prospective student-athlete:
(Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11, Revised: 4/25/18)
(a) Was provided an official visit to the institution's campus;
(b) Had an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with a member of the institution's coaching staff (including a coach's arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's family members); or
(c) Was issued a National Letter of Intent or a written offer of athletically related financial aid by the institution for a regular academic term.
And further:
https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/search/bylawView?id=8804
Bylaw 15.5.1.1 explicitly refers to a recruited student-athlete being a Counter. It does not explicitly state that a non-recruited student-athlete
isn't a Counter, but I would argue it is implied.
Bylaw 15.5.1.1.1 is an explicit exception to a recruited student-athlete being a Counter. I think I understand it to say that a student-athlete
can be recruited and
can receive an academic scholarship and
NOT be a Counter
IF they receive a "true" and "usual" academic scholarship
AND they first complete one academic year of full-time enrollment while achieving a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Does that basically mean you have to earn the scholarship, and prove you deserve it with a 3.0 gpa during a redshirt year?
Oh -- and there are different rules for different sports.
