Colorado's Alston awards policy requires eligibility, participation

Athletes at Colorado can earn up to $5,980 each academic year through education-related benefits, which are commonly known as Alston awards, following the Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision in NCAA v. Alston in June 2021. On3 obtained Colorado’s Educational Benefits Policy, which is dated July 2022, through an open records request.

The NCAA calculated that $5,980 is the maximum allowable annual amount for Alston awards because that’s the most an individual athlete “could receive in an academic year in participation, championship or special achievement awards.”

Each institution can determine if, and how, it offers Alston awards to its athletes.

Colorado’s Alston awards policy says that athletes must be academically eligible and actively participating in their sport in order to receive education-related benefits.

Athletes can earn up to $2,000 after the census dates of the fall and spring semesters, such that the award amount is proportional to each athlete’s athletic scholarship equivalency. That means this type of award is only available to scholarship athletes.

Athletes who have been medically disqualified or exempted, or who have exhausted their eligibility aren’t eligible to receive education-related benefits.

Athletes can earn benefits by attending events

All eligible Colorado athletes, regardless of scholarship equivalency, can earn up to $1,980 per academic year by attending programming sessions. Each session that an athlete attends results in the athlete earning an additional $198. Athletes can attend up to five events per semester.

“Programming benefits will be disbursed at the nearest end of the month following a student’s completion of five events,” according to Colorado’s Alston awards policy.

Athletes who attend fewer than five programming events will receive their benefits during the week before finals.

According to Colorado’s policy, “The programming sessions with be directed by CU Athletics staff members within Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), Leadership Career Development (LCD) and Psychological Health and Performance (PHP). Programming registration and event attendance will take place through the CU Athlete app.

“Expectations for attendance requirements will be set by each individual programming department. Student-athletes cannot miss class to attend a programming session.”

Athletes who are removed from their team’s roster will not be able to attend programming sessions that take place after their roster status changes. They will receive their programming benefits on the last day of the month in which they’re removed from the roster.

Here you can read On3’s guide to Alston awards, which includes the history of the awards and individual schools’ policies for the awards.