Jan. 28, 2015
Dear Huskie Fans and Supporters,
This winter has seen several important developments at the NCAA level that affect Huskie Athletics and most importantly, our student-athletes. These developments have generated a lot of media attention nationally in recent weeks, and I want to make our position as an athletic department and as a university perfectly clear when it comes to the matter of the NCAA's new Cost of Attendance (COA) legislation.
Cost of Attendance will be a game-changer for many student-athletes. Athletic departments will be able to provide athletic aid that will equal the full cost of attendance (for full scholarship sports), and use COA amounts for calculating partial scholarships. Cost of Attendance amounts are different for each institution and are based on calculations made by each institution's financial aid office using federal guidelines. Basically, Cost of Attendance covers expenses beyond room, board, tuition and books currently provided by the athletics grant-in-aid.
At the NCAA Convention earlier this month, members of what is being called the "autonomy" conferences (the Big XII, PAC-12, Big Ten, ACC and SEC) voted to allow their schools to cover the Cost of Attendance as part of athletic aid. The Mid-American Conference last week reiterated our league's support of the autonomous legislation, and said that the MAC will allow its members to provide the full grant-in-aid, including Cost of Attendance, going forward.
That said, I want to let you and all current and prospective student-athletes know that NIU intends to award scholarships that include COA for all sports beginning in 2015-16. Members of the NIU Athletics administrative team began working on this issue a year ago and we are still working through the operational details. At this time, we are calculating that covering the COA will result in a commitment of a minimum of $800,000 dollars annually in scholarship costs. It will be on us, as an athletic department, to generate those additional financial resources by maximizing all of our revenue streams. It is imperative that we focus on areas such as improved premium seating options, increasing sponsorship opportunities and leveraging existing partnerships to generate our estimated additional revenue needs.
In light of this legislation and after thoroughly analyzing our athletic department, we have undergone a program prioritization in order to better serve all of our staff and student-athletes. There is no greater priority than ensuring that Huskie student-athletes - who work extremely hard to represent NIU, its alumni, fans and students at the highest levels on a daily basis - compete on a level playing field. There should not, and will not, be any difference in their ability to receive the full value of an athletic scholarship while attending NIU and fulfilling their academic, as well as athletic, goals.
In addition to the Cost of Attendance legislation, you may have heard that Division I schools now have the ability to award multi-year scholarships, and can now provide "meals incidental to participation" throughout the day. Originally passed in 2012, the NCAA rule allowing multi-year scholarships has gained traction over the last six months. At NIU, athletic scholarships may be awarded on an annual or multi-year basis, with each situation considered on its own merits.
The ability to provide meals incidental to participation to student-athletes was approved this past fall, and I'm proud to say that our department took immediate action and operationalized a plan that ensures all of our student-athletes nutritional needs are met on a daily basis. This is being done at all of our athletic facilities.
Simply put, NIU Athletics is committed to the new NCAA autonomous legislation, and we are moving forward to implement Cost of Attendance grants-in-aid, meals incidental to participation and multi-year scholarships.
In the coming weeks, we'll be sending out the 2015 Huskie Athletic Fund brochure and renewal forms, and we'll be starting our football season ticket renewal push. You will be hearing a lot more about these efforts in the next Frazier's Corner.
Thank you for reading and Go Huskies!
Sean T. Frazier
Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics
