Faculty and Staff Information

In this section

This guide provides the Faculty and Staff of the University at Buffalo with basic information concerning NCAA rules. The NCAA has specific guidelines for what constitutes an “extra benefit” in regards to the institution’s student-athletes.

This web page focuses on the academic and other support services available to the student-athlete. By assisting the institution in rules compliance, you are not only adding to the integrity of The University at Buffalo, but you are protecting the athletic eligibility of its student-athletes. Knowledge of the rules is the best prevention of inadvertent violations.

Download the Faculty and Staff Compliance Guide

If you have any questions regarding NCAA and Mid-American Conference rules and regulations, please contact:

The Division of Athletics
Office of Compliance
ath-compliance@buffalo.edu
Phone: 716-645-3146
Fax: 716-645-3756

Representative of Athletics Interests

In Division I, representatives of an institution’s athletics interests is an individual who is known (or who should have been known) by a members of the institution’s executive or athletics administration to:

Have participated in or to be a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program;
Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution;
Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospects;
Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes of their families; or
Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution’s athletics program.
In most instances, suite holders, courtside ticket holders and season ticket holders are also considered boosters for NCAA legislation.

Prospective Student-Athlete (PSA)

A PSA is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. A student who has not started classes for the ninth grade becomes a PSA if the institution provides such an individual (or the individual’s relatives or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospective students generally. Junior college and prep school college athletes are also prospects for the purposes of NCAA legislation.

Academic and Other Support Services

Academic Counseling-Division I institutions shall make available general academic counseling and tutoring services to all recruited student-athletes. Such counseling and tutoring services may be provided by the department of athletics or through the institution’s academic student support services.

Tutors are EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED from collaborating on, typing, or proofreading student-athlete papers. Student-athletes seeking help on papers should be directed to The Writing Place in Talbert Hall.

Permissible-Academic and other support services that may be financed by an institution are:

Tutoring expenses
Drug rehabilitation program expenses
Counseling expenses related to the treatment of eating disorders
On-campus student development and career counseling (including the provision of related materials of little or no commercial value to student-athletes) utilizing outside resources. Future professional athletics career counseling from the UB professional sports counseling panel.
Actual and necessary expenses to attend proceedings conducted by an institution, its athletic conference or the NCAA that relate to the student-athlete’s eligibility.
Use of computers or typewriters that are for general student use.
Mandatory course supplies listed on the course syllabus/course catalog.
Cost of a field trip, provided the field trip is required of all students in the course and the fee for such trip is specified in the institution’s catalog.
Copying, faxing and printing for academic uses.

Non-permissible-Services that may NOT be financed by the institution.

Typing costs, even if typed reports and other papers are a requirement for the course in which a student-athlete is enrolled. Typing costs are not considered an institutional fee under NCAA legislation and payment would be considered an extra benefit not available to the student body.
Course supplies (e.g. calculators, art supplies) that do not fit the above mentioned criteria.
Use of office computers for only student-athletes.

What is an Impermissible "Extra Benefit"?

An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a representative of the institution’s athletic interests to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete’s relative or friend a benefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA legislation. Receipt of a benefit by student-athletes or their relatives or friends is not a violation of NCAA legislation if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is generally available to the institution’s students, their relatives, their friends, or a particular segment of the student body (e.g., foreign students, minority students) determined on a basis unrelated to athletics ability.

Benefits, Gifts and Services

Occasional Meals - A student-athlete or the entire team in a sport may receive an occasional family home meal from an institutional staff member or representative of athletics interests under the following conditions:

For UB Faculty and Staff ONLY: The meal may be provided in an individual’s home (may be catered) or in a restaurant within 30 miles of UB North Campus. Always contact the Office of Compliance before providing a current UB student-athlete with a meal.

Meals must be restricted to infrequent and special occasions.
Institutional staff members may provide reasonable local transportation to student-athletes to attend such meals. A representative of the athletics interests may provide reasonable local transportation to student-athletes only if that meal function is at the home of that representative;
UB permits 3 meals per semester per team and must be cleared through the Office of Compliance.

Discounts and Credits — A student-athlete may not receive a special discount, payment arrangement or credit on a purchase (e.g. airline ticket, clothing) or service (e.g., laundry, dry cleaning) from an institutional employee or a representative of its athletics interests.

Free or Reduced Costs Services – An institutional employee or athletics representative may not provide a student-athlete with professional services (for which a fee normally would be charged) without charge or at a reduced cost except as permitted by NCAA legislation. Professional services provided at less than the normal rate or at no expense to a student-athlete are considered an extra benefit unless they are available on the same basis to the general student body.

Telephone and Credit Cards — It is not permissible to allow a student-athlete to use a telephone or a credit card for person reasons without charge or at a reduced rate.

Entertainment Services — A student-athlete may not receive services (e.g., movie tickets, dinners, use of car) from commercial agencies (e.g., movie theaters, restaurants, car dealers) without charge or at reduced rates or free or reduced admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations, unless such services also are available to the student body in general.

Other Prohibited Benefits —An institutional employee or representative of the institution’s athletics interests may not provide a student-athlete with extra benefits or services, including, but not limited to:

A loan of money
A guarantee of bond
The use of an automobile
Signing or co-signing a note with an outside agency to arrange a loan

Travel

Permissible: Staff members may provide reasonable local transportation to student-athletes on an occasional basis.

Non-permissible:

Automobile - An institution may not provide the student-athlete with use of an automobile under any circumstances.
Summer Job - An institution may not pay a student-athlete’s transportation to or from his or her summer job, unless such expenses are paid for all employees in that situation. (See NCAA Bylaw 13.12.2.1.4 for additional restrictions governing the employment of student-athletes by camps or clinics.)
Reimbursement for Transportation-An institution or its staff member may only provide reasonable local transportation to an enrolled student-athlete even if the student-athlete reimburses the institution or its staff member for the appropriate amount of the gas expense. Rides home, out of town, out of state, etc. are not reasonable local transportation and are not permissible.