Gopher Athletes To Be Eligible For Financial Support
Minneapolis (KROC AM News) - Student-athletes at the University of Minnesota are expected to become eligible for financial support from the school in the near future.
The U of M announced Friday “its intent to provide education-related financial support to student-athletes starting in Fall 2022.”
The university says its decision is the result of a recent change in NCAA legislation, which enables institutions to provide education-related financial support to student-athletes. The U of M says staff is finalizing the details of its plan which will reward athletes for their academic success.
“I am pleased that the University of Minnesota is able to offer education-related financial support to our student-athletes,” said Director of Athletics Mark Coyle. “Our student-athletes continue to excel at a high level on and off the field and have set recent records with regard to GPA, Academic Progress Rate, Graduation Success Rate, Academic All-Big Ten honorees, Big Ten Distinguished Scholars and Academic All-Americans. We continue to look for ways to enhance the student-athlete experience and how best to prepare them for life during and after college. While we are still finalizing these plans in detail, we know providing education-related financial support is another step in the process of supporting our student-athletes.”
According to the U of M:
In the past year, Gopher student-athletes posted a school-record cumulative GPA of 3.44 and Minnesota registered school records. In December 2021, it was announced that Minnesota had a 96 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which was tied with South Carolina to lead all Power Five conference public institutions. Gopher Athletics has now recorded the four highest GSR statistics in school history during the last four years with 94 percent in both 2020 and 2019 and a 93 percent in 2018. The Gophers also rank second in the Big Ten in the current GSR data behind Northwestern.