The NCAA Senior Vice President, Scott Bearby, sent out an email to Division I Presidents, Athletic Directors, and Conference Commissioners yesterday, four days ahead of the final settlement approval in the House on April 7th.
The purpose of the email was to remind everyone of one of the crucial pieces of the settlement. Students who are affected by roster caps, and are thus cut from their teams, will not lose their athletic scholarships.
Many athletes, former-athletes, and coaches have been protesting the roster caps and the cuts that are preemptively happening as a result of the settlement terms, and according to the email, some have been writing letters to the court objecting to the caps because they are losing their scholarships.
Bearby stated that athletes who have been told they “will not have a roster spot in the 2025-26 academic year…have concluded from that information that they will also not have an athletic scholarship.” He also mentioned the fear athletes have expressed of entering the transfer portal, which is typically cause for cancellation of a scholarship.
He went on to say that “the settlement provides that the new roster limits cannot cause any current scholarship athlete to lose his or her scholarship.” This includes students who enter the transfer portal and ultimately decide to remain at their school.
At the end of the email, he urges programs to remind their coaching staffs to “be mindful” when speaking to to athletes about roster decisions.
One letter that we have covered that makes this mistake is Eddie Reese’s objection letter which was filed in the middle of March. At the end of his 5th paragraph, Reese states “if an athlete enters the portal, their current school can end their scholarship immediately and regardless of whether the athlete ends up changing to another school.”
This question was also somewhat addressed in the 3rd Questions and Answers document released by the NCAA in December as question number 3.
- Question No. 3: Is a student-athlete’s athletics scholarship guaranteed?
- Answer: The proposed settlement does not alter any of the scholarship guarantees that became effective August 1, 2024. With the new scholarship protections, schools cannot reduce, cancel or fail to renew athletics scholarships in NCAA sports for athletics reasons (such as injury, physical or mental illness, athletic ability or performance, contribution to team success or roster management decisions). These requirements continue to apply regardless of any roster management decisions unless and until the student-athlete in question graduates or elects to transfer.
The last sentence states that the colleges cannot reduce, cancel, or fail to renew scholarships until the student-athlete graduates or “elects to transfer”. This wording is a little murky and leaves room for confusion as to what exactly “elects” means, but the email sent out yesterday confirms that entering the portal will not be cause to terminate a scholarship if an athlete chooses to stay at their school.
This provision does not seem to apply to athletes who are choosing to transfer who have not lost their roster spot for the next year.
Will coaches cut incoming recruits or current athletes? Is this only SEC, Big10,Big 12 or all D1 schools? What about those schools that aren’t in those conferences but the Football/Wrestling,Hockey team are in those conferences? Would it only effect the team in say the big 12 bs all the teams at the school that aren’t in the Big 12?
All division 1 schools that opt into the House settlement regardless of conference are subject to roster caps. The SECs cap is lower for men’s swimming. It is up to each coach who he cuts to maintain roster compliance.
From my understanding, all schools in the Power 5 have to opt in. It’s schools that are not in one of those conferences that have the choice. And coaches are cutting both incoming recruits and current athletes
It’s the power 4 now
It still sucks big time for anyone who didn’t get what they signed up for. Four years of swimming at the college they chose. Not everyone can switch schools economically and efficiently for their degree especially if a rising senior. Yes they may get to keep their scholarship if they even had one but they lose the swim family they are a part of and all the other athletic benefits like graduating as a student athlete and senior recognition. Some kids just love swimming and get it ripped away before they were ready.
Except that they also lose so so so much more. First and foremost, being a part of something extraordinarily special— that every student athlete has worked years and years for—how do you put that into a financial cost? And, these athletes will lose tutoring, early class scheduling, academic counseling support, daily food allowance, medical, and the ability to keep improving in their sport. The loss is far greater than the ability to keep a scholarship (minimal at best)
Hopefully the Judge turns this settlement on its head!
Great time to be going D3.
Catch me in the NESCAC next year!
Love it
Scholarship athletes are being cut. I know several that had injuries last year and even being rehabbed, the coach said they couldn’t take the chance especially at SEC with only 22 men. Auburn cut down to 9 they definitely cut scholarship athletes. Any one knows how this impacts Alston money?
Why are teams learning about this now?
My understanding is that scholarships are renewable every year, so how would a school be on the hook for next year for an athlete they cut who didn’t transfer. Seems inconsistent with current rules.
No negative impact on the Team, as the athletic scholarship doesn’t count against the roster cap. Not sure if funded by the Athletic Department or the University, but this seems like a positive thing to me as this ensures that there is no negative economic impact for athletes (families) that have been cut. Also ensures that they at least have opportunity to enter transfer portal (whether they ultimately end up transferring or not) and don’t need to worry about losing existing athletic scholarship in doing so.
I also thought scholarships were renewable every year as well, but did you see the Question/Answer #3 above? It looks like some scholarship guarantee took effect in August of 2024 saying that athletic scholarships cannot be taken away.
This doesn’t help the 2025 high school senior who committed to an SEC school 14 months ago 🙁
Does this impact many swimmers? Previously most schools had only ~10 full scholarships. I would assume most folks who aren’t top 30 were on no / very partial scholarship, but I don’t know