Illinois' Alston awards policy gives coaches decision-making power

Illinois is among the growing number of Division I institutions that will offer Alston awards to athletes in the 2022-23 academic year. The financial awards for academic achievement are capped at $5,980 annually. The schools that were early adopters offered the awards in the 2021-22 academic year following the Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision in NCAA v. Alston.

Illinois’ plan for Alston awards, or Academic Incentive Awards, as the school refers to them, allows the school’s head coaches to help decide which athletes will be eligible to receive the awards when a team’s roster size is greater than the athletic department’s award allocation for the team.

For example, if a program’s roster hypothetically includes 40 athletes but if Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman and the school’s sports administrators established that a maximum of 34 athletes on the team can receive Alston awards, then the head coach will help determine which athletes aren’t eligible to receive Alston awards.

Each institution decides if, and how, Alston awards will be distributed. However, these decisions can also be influenced at the conference level. The BIG EAST is mandating the availability of Alston awards for men’s and women’s basketball players starting in the 2022-23 school year.

Illinois to determine budget for Alston awards

Every year, Whitman or a designee will determine the Alston awards budget for Illinois, which reported more than $120 million in total operating expenses in 2019, the most recent pre-COVID fiscal year. The document that outlines Illinois’ policy says the distributions will be decided with the athletic department’s “strategic priorities” and Title IX in mind.

Oregon spent more than $2.6 million on Alston awards its athletes earned last school year, while Ole Miss spent more than $2.3 million, based on data obtained by On3 through public records requests.

“Prior to the start of each fall and spring semester, the head coach of each respective sport program will be notified in writing of the amount of the sport program’s Academic Incentive Award distribution,” states a document that details Illinois’ Alston awards program, which On3 obtained through a FOIA request. “The Head Coach, in consultation with the respective sport administrator, shall designate the student-athletes on the roster that will be eligible to earn Academic Incentive Awards for the upcoming semester, along with the amount that each student-athletes is eligible to earn for that term.

“The Head Coach shall designate a dollar mount, up to a maximum of $2990 per semester, that each eligible student-athlete may receive if that student-athlete qualifies for the Academic Incentive Award during that semester.”

Each head coach’s declarations must be submitted to the compliance office by the Thursday before the first week of classes each semester. The compliance office will then notify in writing athletes of their eligibility and the amount of their respective Alston awards.

Both Illinois’ scholarship and walk-on athletes are eligible to receive Alston awards. If an athlete receives a partial scholarship, then the amount of the athlete’s Alston awards is not prorated based upon the scholarship amount, which is how Iowa handles its Alston awards.

The award criteria

In order for eligible, scholarship Illinois athletes to earn Alston awards, they’ll need to earn both the eligibility and retention points that are calculated as part of their team’s Academic Progress Rate (APR). Athletes earn the retention point by staying in school and the eligibility point by remaining academically eligible.

Walk-on athletes’ Alston awards will be determined based upon if they would’ve earned both APR points.

Athletes who don’t earn the retention point can still receive Alston awards if they receive an exception, such as one for leaving school to participate in a professional sport.

However, athletes who earn both APR points can be disqualified from receiving an award if he or she “engages in serious misconduct warranting substantial disciplinary penalty,” voluntarily withdraws from the sport before the start of the next semester or enters the Transfer Portal before the start of the next semester.

Alston awards offer a direct form of compensation from schools to their athletes, beyond third-party payments through NIL deals.

UCLA quarterback Chase Griffin told On3, “I’d like to stress that the one thing that will help all athletes, more than NIL, is funding the Alston stipends this year. That is honestly more than most athletes are making on NIL.”