• Charge an entry fee to participate, or
• Issue any prizes or compensation at anytime during the league's duration.

Summer Drug-Testing

Beginning this summer, the NCAA is extending its drug-testing program to include the summer, making it a year round program. As the summer months continue to represent a time of training, conditioning, and sanctioned sport league play, student-athletes' susceptibility to external influence and pressure to use performance-enhancing substances increases, thus posing a greater need to close the gap in the NCAA year-round drug-testing program. This will ensure the protection of the welfare of the student-athletes as well as prevent student-athletes from gaining an unfair competitive advantage due to the use of illegal substances.

While this change affects all student-athletes, the actual drug-testing process remains the same. The two major changes will be on the administration side:

Click Here For More Information Regarding Summer Drug-Testing

SEASONS OF COMPETITION

A student-athlete shall not engage in more than four seasons of intercollegiate competition in any one sport. An institution shall not permit a student-athlete to represent it in intercollegiate competition unless the individual completes all of his or her seasons of participation in all sports within the time periods specified below:

Five-Year Rule

A student-athlete shall complete his or her seasons of participation within five calendar years from the beginning of the semester or quarter in which the student-athlete first registered for a minimum full-time program of studies in a collegiate institution, with time spent in the armed services, on official church missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government being excepted. For foreign students, service in the armed forces or on an official church mission of the student’s home country is considered equivalent to such service in the United States.

Determining the Start of the Five-Year Period

For purposes of starting the count of time under the five-year rule, a student-athlete shall be considered registered at a collegiate institution (domestic or foreign) when the student-athlete initially registers in a regular term (semester or quarter) of an academic year for a minimum full-time program of studies, as determined by the institution, and attends the student’s first day of classes for that term.

Service Exceptions to the Five-Year Rule

Time spent in the armed services, on official church missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government is excepted from the application of the five-year rule. Among such services that qualify a student-athlete for an extension of the five-year rule are:

Redshirt

The term “redshirt” applies to a student-athlete who does not represent the institution against outside competition and is not charged with a loss of a season of competition. During a redshirt year, a student-athlete may practice and travel to away contests without being charged with the loss of season of competition, as long as the student-athlete does not engage in outside competition.

Medical Hardship

A student-athlete may be granted an additional year of competition by the conference for reasons of “hardship.” Hardship is defined as incapacity resulting from an injury that has occurred under all of the following conditions:

Click here for more information regarding the term "redshirt".

Click here for more information regarding the five-year rule.

Academic Progress Rate

The Academic Progress Rate (also known as APR) is a metric established by the NCAA to measure the success or failure of collegiate athletic teams in moving student-athletes towards graduation. It was instituted in February of 2005.

Collegiate sports teams that fail to achieve an APR score of 925 - equivalent to a 50% graduation rate - may be penalized with the loss of scholarships. A perfect score is 1000. The scores are calculated as follows:

The APR is calculated by allocating points for eligibility and retention -- the two factors that research identifies as the best indicators of graduation. Each player on a given roster earns a maximum of two points per term, one for being academically eligible and one for staying with the institution. A team's APR is the total points of a team's roster at a given time divided by the total points possible. Since this results in a decimal number, the CAP decided to multiply it by 1,000 for ease of reference. Thus, a raw APR score of .925 translates into the 925 that will become the standard terminology.

The first penalties under the APR system were scheduled to be announced in December 2005.

The APR is designed to measure semester-by-semester academic progress, and is separate from the Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which only aims to measure the actual percentage of student-athletes who graduate, thus omitting students who would have graduated but left school early for non-academic reasons (such as a professional career).

Click Here For More Information Regarding the Academic Progress Rate

Click Here For More Information On Understanding Academic Progress Rate Reports

NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse

All prospective student-athletes wishing to participate in Division I athletics must be certified by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse.

The NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse sets the minimum eligibility standards for incoming freshmen student-athletes and determines who meets those standards. In order to be certified by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse, there are several requirements that a prospective student-athlete must meet. For example, a successful certification must include:

Click here for more information regarding NCAA eligibility standards.

Students should register with the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse after the completion of their junior year in high school. At this point, an official transcript (including six semesters of grades) should be sent to the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse from the high school. Failure to register with the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse prior to high school graduation could delay certification and affect the prospective student-athlete's eligibility at the certifying institution (i.e., Binghamton University).

Freshmen student-athletes who do not register with the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse cannot practice or compete during their first year of enrollment. In this instance, a year of residence at the certifying institution must first be completed.

Click here for more information regarding the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse

Amateurism

Only an amateur student-athlete is eligible for intercollegiate athletics participation. A student-athlete loses their amateur status if he/she:

Beginning August 1, 2006, the NCAA Amateurism Certification Clearinghouse will be the processing center for determining the amateurism eligibility of domestic and international freshman and transfer prospective student-athletes initially enrolling at NCAA Divisions I and II member institutions on or after August 1, 2007.

Click here for more information on the NCAA Amateurism Certification Clearinghouse

NCAA Drug Testing Program

Who will be drug tested as of the 2004-05 academic year?

How and when are institutions notified of their selection for drug testing?

How are student-athletes tested and how long does it take?

Can student-athletes beat a drug test by consuming large amounts of fluids?

What happens if a student-athlete tests positive?

Click Here For Additional Information Regarding NCAA Drug Testing

Binghamton University Drug Screening and Substance Abuse Program

In addition to the NCAA Drug Testing Program, Binghamton University Student-Athletes are required to take part in its own Drug Screening Program. The actual testing procedures are very similar to the NCAA's program; urinanalysis is used and a Sports Medicine Staff member of the same gender will observe student-athletes during the procedure.

All tests will be assumed negative until they are found to be positive. Positive results will be verified by retesting the sample to ensure validity. Additionally, a positive result will cause the student-athlete to be included in the next round of testing.

Each student-athlete with a positive test is required to attend educational programming. Failure to comply, or refusal to participate, will result in disqualification from all athletic participation until the guidelines are met.

Additional information can be found in the Binghamton University 2005-2006 Student-Athlete Handbook.

Graduate Student Eligibility

Graduate students may compete in NCAA athletics at the institution they attended as an undergraduate student, provided they still have eligibility remaining and it is within five calendar years of full-time collegiate enrollment for Division I and within the first 10 full-time semesters for Divisions II and III.

Graduate students are also eligible to compete for a graduate school that they did not attend as an undergraduate as long as they meet the criteria for the one-time transfer exception to the general transfer residence requirement. The exception is as follows:

21 Year Age Rule

Prior to initial enrollment in college, organized athletic participation shall result in the student-athlete being charged with one season of competition for any competition during each 12-month period following the student-athlete's 21st birthday.

This means that someone enrolling in college for the first time over the age of 21 could have exhausted part of his or her eligibility without having competed in collegiate athletics.

Please note that this is not a complete listing of all of the eligibility rules and regulations regarding graduate student eligibility. For a complete listing, please contact the NCAA or visit their website at www.ncaa.org.

With all of the supplements and medicines on the market, student-athletes are faced with the daunting task of determining whether or not the substance is banned by the NCAA. Even if all of the listed ingredients in a given supplement are legal, there is still a chance a banned substance could be part of the product. This is due to the FDA not strictly regulating the supplement industry. Listed below are the banned substance families:

Anabolic Agents:

For more information on NCAA banned substances and drug testing, go to:

http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/ed_outreach/health-safety/drug_testing/index

A Checklist of Things You Should Know

You should be considered a representative of our athletics interests by being an alum, benefactor, season ticket holder or simply by being a fan of Binghamton University.

Student-Athletes MAY NOT:
-place any bet of any sort on any college or professional sports event.
-give information to anyone who does place bets on college or professional sports.

That Means…..

Promotional Activities

1. A student-athlete MAY NOT allow their name, picture or personal appearance to be used to advertise or promote any commercial products, services or businesses.

2. A student-athlete is permitted to have involvement in a promotional contest (i.e., shooting contest at the basketball game) if he/she is selected for participation through a random drawing.

3. Any approved charitable appearance must occur without the student-athlete missing any classes and approval to appear at any charitable activity must be received from the Compliance Office.

4. By notifying the appropriate athletic department staff member of appearances by your son/daughter to assist a charitable organization prior to the event, we are in a better position to protect his/her collegiate eligibility.

If your son or daughter seeks employment opportunities to earn money during the academic school year or summer, please be aware of the following:

1. All earnings by the student-athlete must be at a rate of pay that is comparable with the going rate in that locale for the type of work performed.

2. The student-athlete should be paid only for work actually performed.

3. Transportation to and from the job may not be provided to a student-athlete unless it is provided to all employees. Moreover, meals at a restaurant may not be provided to a student-athlete unless they are provided to all employees.

4. Special discounts or services may not be provided to a student-athlete unless they are provided to all employees.

Amateurism and Agents

Agents or their representatives may have contacted you or your son/daughter in an attempt to persuade you to allow them to represent your child's athletics interests once his/her collegiate eligibility is exhausted. If you have been contacted by an agent or their representatives, please be aware that NCAA rules provide that prior to the completion of your son's/daughter's eligibility (which usually occurs after the last game of their senior year including the post-season tournament), he/she (as well as family members, relatives, or friends):

1. MAY NOT agree, either orally or in writing, to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing their athletic ability or reputation in a sport. Furthermore, a student-athlete may not agree that an agent will represent him/her in future negotiations once their collegiate eligibility has expired in that sport.

2. MAY NOT accept transportation or any other benefits from anyone who wishes to represent their athletic interests.

3. MAY NOT negotiate or enter into any kind of agreement, either orally or written, to compete in professional athletics.

4. MAY NOT receive any preferential treatment, benefits or services, including loans that are not obtained according to the established policies and practices of an accredited commercial lending institution.

5. MAY NOT receive any type of pay or compensation for play, either indirectly or directly.

6. MAY NOT be involved in any commercial endorsements for a product, service or establishment.

What Every Parent of a Binghamton University Student-Athlete Should Know

There are many topics relating to NCAA rules that you should be aware of as the parent of a Binghamton University student-athlete. One of the areas that causes the greatest number of questions and concerns involve a student-athlete's or a family member's receipt of an "extra benefit". An extra benefit is considered the receipt of any gift by a student-athlete or a student-athlete's relative or friend at a free or reduced cost, or any special arrangement that is not available to the general public and all other students at Binghamton University. The receipt of a benefit not authorized by NCAA regulations by a student-athlete or his/her parent(s) will immediately place in jeopardy the student-athlete's eligibility for intercollegiate athletics competition. Examples of an extra benefit would include any of the following:

1. Anything from an employee of Binghamton University or a representative of the University's athletics interests (e.g., use of a car, hair cut, clothing, gifts, money, tickets for any kind of entertainment, payment of long distance telephone calls, lodging).

2. Free or reduced priced merchandise or services from any merchant unless that free or reduced cost item is also available to the general public at the same rate.

3. Meals provided to parents of a student-athlete by a representative of the University's athletics interests or an employee of Binghamton University.

4. Special discount, payment arrangement or credit on a purchase (e.g., airline ticket, car rental).

5. Providing a loan of money that is not transacted using the established policies and practices of an accredited commercial lending institution. Moreover, the provision of a guarantee of bond or the signing or co-signing of a note to arrange a loan are other examples of prohibited benefits.

As we continue to grow and develop at the Division I level, it becomes increasingly important to keep our athletic family informed and educated concerning established rules and regulations, which govern how our Department of Intercollegiate Athletics operates. The Compliance Corner will become a regular feature which will focus and provide information concerning a compliance-related topic. With the National Letter of Intent signing period beginning in November, I thought an appropriate a subject of interest would be "What is the NLI?"

The Collegiate Commissioner's Association administers the National Letter of Intent Program. Started in 1964 with seven conferences and eight independent institutions, the program now has over fifty conferences with over five hundred participating institutions. The basic purpose of the National Letter of Intent (NLI) is to reduce recruiting time and expense for the institution and limit recruiting pressure on the prospective student-athlete. The NLI is a voluntary agreement and not a contract. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the Letter, and no institution is required to join the program.

Over the years, some of the terms of the NLI agreement have changed, yet the basic premise has remained the same, to provide certainty in the recruiting process. Specifically, pursuant to the terms of an NLI, participating institutions agree to provide a prospective student-athlete who has been admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules, athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospect's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year. Furthermore, participating institutions agree not to recruit a prospective student-athlete once he/she signs a NLI with another institution. Accordingly, a prospective student-athlete who signs a NLI is no longer subjected to recruiting calls and contacts and is ensured an athletic scholarship for one academic year.

The NLI is a four-page document, which explains official interpretations and rules for clarification. Every NLI rule has a history. Some examples are:

1. Provision No. 13 - 14-day Signing Deadline: Prospective student-athletes were holding several NLI's to determine if they would receive a better grant-in-aid offer.

2. Provision No. 14 - 21-day Filing Deadline: Coaches would hold signed NLI's in their sport sorting out the ones they wanted to keep and rejecting the others before filing.

3. Provision No. 11 - Parent/Guardian Signature Required: To avoid undue pressure on the student and to encourage family counsel in the final decision.

In addition, the NLI becomes null or void if the prospective student-athlete is denied admission to the institution or if he/she does not meet the eligibility requirements set forth by the NCAA to receive financial aid. The provisions of the NLI will be considered satisfied if the prospective student-athlete attends the signing institution for one academic year or he/she graduates from a junior college.