New NCAA rule will hurt midmajors and small schools

[tornado]

This has gotten extremely scarce coverage but a new NCAA rule kicks in next year that will surely hurt midmajors & smaller schools..

The rule affects junior college kids who finish with their juco Associates Degree then move on to a 4-year school.

Schools like Bradley & the other MVC schools rely heavily on juco kids - many of the top scorers and rebounders in the MVC each year are the juco kids, and the preseason Player of the Year (Cleanthony Early) is an example..

The new rule requires the kid to graduate junior college with a 2.5 GPA - sharply up from the previous requirement of 2.0
..in order to gain initial eligibility at an NCAA institution.

The number of kids who can graduate then go on to 4-year colleges...
".. could drop dramatically in the future, thanks to new qualifying standards put in place last spring by the NCAA.

.. as of the end of the 2013 academic year, junior college transfers must now
have a 2.5 grade point average in their transferable credits in order to be
eligible for a four-year school. That's not only up from a 2.0, but also higher
than is required for initial eligibility for freshmen (2.3 under the new NCAA
rules) and significantly higher than virtually every university requires..

Also included were strengthened requirements in course load. "

NJCAA estimates more than 1000 junior college kids go on to 4-year NCAA schools to play men's basketball...
..and these NEW - stricter GPA requirements might block as many as 20% or more.. a HUGE percentage of which would be minorities.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/10073826/new-ncaa-rules-spark-debate-jc-community

[BUBraves fan]

In a past conversation with President Glasser, she said her goal was to "have Bradley become an Ivy League of the Midwest". Applying that goal for BU, I see nothing wrong with an incoming student athlete needing to have a C+ gpa over a C/D gpa. Student athlete = student first, athlete second.

[tornado]

but as noted in that article - other students either applying to Bradley, or transferring in from elsewhere, both regular students & athletes, do NOT have to meet that same level of GPA requirement.

Even Bradley's GRAD SCHOOL requirements say you just need a 2.0 (C-average or higher)

http://www.bradley.edu/academic/departments/physicaltherapy/programs/dpt/requirements.dot

so people will ask the question - why do juco basketball players have to be 2.5 when everyone else is 2.0?

[bradleyfan124]

Again the hypocrisy of the NCAA. They dont want student athletes to be singled out from the rest of the students but then they turn around and do this. The athletes have to follow these rules but the rest of the students dont.
Second question: How can the NCAA who are only supposed to regulate athletics govern what a particular College or University already requires for their students. In otherwards every university has entrance requirements for all their students. How can the NCAA dictate that the University has to change those requirements for some of their students?

[tornado]

I fully agree that the goal should be to improve the academics for athletes and all students as well.
But setting the INITIAL eligibility requirements that high will have the reverse effect - it will prohibit kids from getting to college, and thus worsen their chances at getting a degree or a good education...

I suggest they set the initial requirements a bit lower - let them GET into college - but once IN COLLEGE - then give them time to acclimate then set the eligibility requirement higher in order to REMAIN athletically eligible.

[Canton BU fan]

I would say this is discriminatory in nature and disproportionately affects minority students. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should get involved.

[Chico]

I would say this is discriminatory in nature and disproportionately affects minority students. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should get involved.

I don't agree with it, but why is it discriminatory? It applies to all junior college players.

[Canton BU fan]

I don't agree with it, but why is it discriminatory? It applies to all junior college players.

I was sort of joking but aren't most of the players who move up from junior college to D1 minorities? The ones Bradley is looking at are.

[Da Coach]

When the NCAA has tried tightening academic requirements for Division I schools to award athletic scholarships in the past, such measures have been labeled racist and unfair to minorities.
Here is an interesting article from 1989 regarding the creation of Proposition 48 in 1983, and a followup Proposition 42 in 1989 that required kids to pay their own way to college their first year if they did not meet higher academic standards-

http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126483/index.htm

[Chico]

As far as I know minorities are allowed to go to school like everyone else. So why would, or should, it be labeled as racist? I do agree with Tornado that the GPA should be kept at 2.

[Canton BU fan]

As far as I know minorities are allowed to go to school like everyone else. So why would, or should, it be labeled as racist? I do agree with Tornado that the GPA should be kept at 2.

Because they would have to pay their way probably meaning they don't go to school.

[Chico]

Because they would have to pay their way probably meaning they don't go to school.

Pay their way to grades 1-12?

[Da Coach]

The implication is that minorities are more often at a financial disadvantage, and therefore cannot pay their own way to college for that first year in order to comply with the NCAA rule.

Actually it discriminates against people with lower grades, and to a lesser degree, people who are poorer. It has no inherent racial bias. It is just that some people wanted to try to make it a racial issue.