Collegiate Student Athlete Protection Act

Collegiate Student Athlete Protection Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require an institution of higher education that has an athletic program that annually receives $10 million or more in income derived from media rights for television coverage of the institution's athletic program, in order to be an eligible institution for the purposes of federal student assistance and work-study programs, to comply with the following requirements:

• a student who has contracted to receive athletically related student aid (student athlete) and who subsequently becomes medically ineligible to participate in the athletic program due to injury or illness shall receive institutional student aid equivalent to the aid the student athlete would have received if he or she had not suffered such injury or illness, as well as continued academic supports, for a period that, combined with the time the student previously received athletically related student aid, is equal to five academic years or until the student completes his or her undergraduate degree, whichever time period is shorter;
• a student athlete who is maintaining academic standing consistent with the requirements for graduation, but who will not receive such aid for all or part of an academic year because he or she was involuntarily dismissed from the athletic program for reasons other than violating academic or disciplinary standards, shall, for the same time period, be provided with institutional student aid equivalent to the aid the student athlete would have received if he or she had not been dismissed;
• a student athlete who is maintaining required academic standing, but who has exhausted his or her athletic eligibility before completing an undergraduate degree, shall be provided with institutional student aid equivalent to the aid the student athlete would have received if the student's athletic eligibility were not exhausted, for one year or until the student completes an undergraduate degree, whichever time period is shorter (except when the athletically related student aid was for participation in a team sport if such team has a graduation success rate of 70% or higher);
• at the beginning of each academic year, each first-year and third-year student athlete shall attend and complete an Athletics Participation Readiness workshop that shall include information about financial aid, debt management, budgeting, time management, and the long-term dangers of concussions and head injuries;
• a student athlete who faces loss or reduction of student aid for a violation of a disciplinary standard of the institution shall be provided the opportunity for a formal administrative hearing, not less than one appeal, and other due process procedures as required;
• a request for transfer submitted to the institution by a student athlete shall be granted or denied no later than seven business days after submission;
• each student athlete who is eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant shall be provided with institutional aid sufficient to cover insurance premiums, deductibles, and other cost sharing or out of pocket expenses, including copayments, during the period of the student's participation in an athletic program and, if such student athlete suffers an injury or illness from participation in an athletic program that requires ongoing medical treatment, institutional aid sufficient to cover such costs for at least two years after the student graduates or separates from the institution;
• the institution shall have venue-specific emergency action plans and written policies and guidelines related to exercise and supervision for any student athlete deemed to have a potentially life threatening medical condition; and
• the institution shall provide annual baseline concussion testing of each student athlete on the active roster of each team participating in a contact or collision sport or a limited-contact or impact sport before such student athlete may participate in any contact drills or activities.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov