DEGREE COMPLETION
Student-athletes who have exhausted their athletics eligibility but have yet to graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with their first undergraduate degree may request degree completion funding by completing and submitting a Degree Completion Additional Aid application. For best consideration, applications should be submitted no later than 30 days prior to the academic semester for which aid is being requested.
The student-athlete can request an application from their athletic academic coordinator. The student-athlete will be responsible for completing his/her designated section(s) while ensuring that the VCU Athletics Compliance Office completes the required eligibility review; ensuring that the university designated major advisor/college advisor provides the required academic review (confirming graduation); and ensuring that the head coach signs and endorses. The student-athlete should return the completed application to his/her sport specific athletic academic advisor by the published deadline for further processing. The athletic academic advisor will review the application for completeness and accuracy and submit it to the Senior Executive Associate AD/Academic Support by the published deadline.
The Senior Executive Associate AD/Academic Support will review all of the degree completion applications for completeness and accuracy, sign and create an excel spreadsheet listing all applicants by team and providing information specific to VID#, academic session(s) and duration of session(s) requested, total credit hours requested, while designating whether requested classes are lecture or on-line format.
The additional aid spreadsheet will then be submitted to the Director of Personnel/Scholarship Administration. That individual will add information to the spreadsheet specific to athletically-related financial aid and equivalency, residency status, associated tuition and fees costs, associated room and board costs, and book costs all to be calculated into a “bottom line” breakdown by sport and as an entire athletic department. This information will be provided to all assigned sport supervisors, along with all degree completion applications, for his/her required approval and signature. Once reviewed and signed, all degree completion applications will be returned to the Senior Executive Associate AD/Academic Support.
The Senior Executive Associate AD/Academic Support will convene a meeting with the designated committee, providing all members with the informational spreadsheet, in order to review all degree completion applications for further processing. The committee consists of the following members:
- Deputy Director of Athletics
- Business Office Designee
- Senior Executive Associate AD/Academic Support/SWA
- Director of Personnel/Scholarship Administration
- Associate Athletics Director of Compliance
The committee will determine those student-athletes who have demonstrated need for degree completion athletically-related financial aid. Student-athlete degree completion is a fundamental value of VCU Athletics. Every effort will be made to facilitate the graduation of student-athletes with remaining course requirements at the conclusion of their eligibility while adhering to departmental budget parameters and Gender Equity/Title IX mandates.
Once the committee has rendered decisions, all student-athletes who requested degree completion aid will receive written notification from the Director of Personnel/Scholarship Administration office as to the status of their application, whether approved or denied. Those student-athletes who were denied additional fifth-year funding will be permitted to appeal and all appeals are to be made in writing to the degree completion additional aid committee. Appeals must be submitted within ten (10) calendar days of written notification that the request has been denied. All appeals must include additional mitigating circumstances indicating why the decision should be overturned. An appeal decision will be made in a timely manner. Written notification will be provided by the committee to the student-athlete.