In an initiative designed to boost student-athlete academic performance, the NCAA has selected six universities to participate in its Limited-Resources Institutions Grant Program Pilot. The schools, which include four historically Black institutions, will receive grants totaling more than $4.3 million that will help them better fulfill NCAA Division I requirements.
NCAA officials say the grant program pilot funds will be supporting new initiatives and expand existing campus programs, such as “summer bridge programs, summer financial aid, and mentoring and tutoring.” The schools are expected to hire additional academic support staff and purchase technology as instructional aids.
“As the academic expectations for Division I student-athletes continue to increase, the NCAA is proud to offer assistance to those institutions that have demonstrated need and a plan for using these funds to contribute to student-athlete success,” NCAA Executive Vice President Dr. Bernard Franklin said in a statement.
The following schools, which were selected through a competitive grant competition, will receive funding over three years: California State University, Northridge ($900,000); Coppin State University ($900,000); Jackson State University ($900,000); Morehead State University ($360,000); Norfolk State University ($330,000); and Tennessee State University ($900,000).
Schools eligible for the grant program are “Division I institutions in the non-Football Bowl Subdivision and in the bottom 10 percent of resources as determined by per capita institutional expenditures, athletics department funding and Pell Grant aid were eligible to apply for the program,” according to the NCAA.
Schools were allowed to apply for a total of $300,000 annually over three years. In addition, the schools have to match grant dollars annually with either direct funds or in-kind contributions. Each institution must make a 25 percent match in the first year, 50 percent in the second year and 75 percent in the third year.
“Funding is necessary. One of the things that the grant will do is supplement the funding that the athletics department and the university have in the different initiatives that are already in place,” says Teresa Phillips, athletics director at Tennessee State University.
