Iowa Athletics’ academic reward payments plan prioritizes graduation

Full scholarship athletes might end Iowa careers with greater than $20,000 in cumulative advantages

College of Iowa athletics director Gary Barta addresses media throughout a information convention on Friday, July 8, 2022, at Carver-Hawkeye Enviornment in Iowa Metropolis. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY — Iowa Athletics will prioritize commencement in deciding how a lot to pay athletes for his or her tutorial efficiency, in accordance with this system description obtained by The Gazette through a public data request.

The Hawkeye Educational Benefit Plan will take impact for the autumn 2022 semester — a couple of 12 months after the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s 2021 ruling in Alston v. NCAA cleared the trail for colleges to pay athletes as much as $5,980 yearly for his or her tutorial efficiency.

Iowa athletes underneath full athletic scholarships will obtain $1,495 per semester or $2,990 per 12 months if they’re academically eligible for the semester and return to highschool for the next semester, in accordance with the doc.

The annual stipend for Iowa athletes who’ve a partial athletic scholarship will likely be proportionate with how a lot their scholarship is price. For instance, somebody with 50 % of a scholarship will obtain 50 % of the $1,495 per semester — $747.50.

Iowa will defer one other $2,990 in funds per 12 months to scholarship athletes till after they obtain an undergraduate diploma from the college. The commencement reward has a cap of $11,960.

The 2-pronged strategy means an Iowa athlete underneath scholarship who spends 4 years on the college can obtain as much as $23,920. If the athlete decides to redshirt a season and spends a fifth 12 months at Iowa, the utmost would go as much as $26,910.

“Do I imagine that is going to maintain anyone from transferring out? In all probability not,” Iowa athletics director Gary Barta mentioned in a July information convention. “Nevertheless it positive is a reward when you resolve to come back and keep.”

Iowa walk-ons can also obtain tutorial reward funds, albeit on a extra restricted scale. They’ll obtain $2,990 per 12 months after commencement in the event that they spent not less than three years on an intercollegiate workforce.

Graduate college students should not eligible for this system, per the UI Athletics doc.

The educational reward funds is separate from NIL though each began in 2021 and resulted in new avenues for athletes to earn cash outdoors of their scholarships.

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