Interdepartmental Communications 149
One strategy being employed is to invite regular students that
might have an interest in an athletic program to “walk-on.”
These “walk-on” students are then listed on the team rosters
and their names, as well as their financial aid packages, are
included in the rosters sent to the NCAA. Often, the “walk-on”
financial aid package is smaller than the recruited athletes. A
significant portion of those “walk-ons” leave the team after
a time, yet their financial aid packages remain in the NCAA
files. Other rule circumventions continue to be quietly dis-
cussed and tried. But the most successful strategy, as described
by a Division III lacrosse coach in the NCAA News, “Colleges
just buy athletes for their programs. It’s become especially true
for athletes with good academic credentials...” (Being a good
student evidently has its rewards.)
The Division III Management Council also recommended
to the Division III President’s Council that institutions report-
ing no Level II (minor infractions) violations at the end of an
academic year be required to certify that no violation occurred.
This appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to force Division III
institutions to improve their self-monitoring and self-reporting
obligations to the NCAA.
It should be clear that the NCAA is attempting to regulate
financial aid awards to student athletes enrolling in Division
III institutions. It should be equally as clear that student ath-
letes enrolling in those colleges can and do receive significant
financial aid, in addition to other benefits. The NCAA creates
the parameters within which Division III colleges are supposed
to operate. Within those parameters, each institution makes
its own individual, unique financial aid award decisions. Very
often, decisions to award financial aid dramatically stretch
and often break the recruiting rules and regulations.