Athletics Risk Management and Compliance Services: Current Longhorns — Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund
The Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund (SAOF) was created several years ago by the NCAA to give institutions a way to provide assistance to student-athletes that would otherwise be impermissible under NCAA rules. Each year the NCAA distributes funds to each conference office. The conference offices, in turn, distribute this money to their institutions based on the number of sports sponsored by each institution. The University of Texas at Austin is not permitted to supplement these funds.
There are some restrictions on the use of this fund. For example, it cannot be used to pay for things that could be covered by an athletics scholarship, such as meals. Also, SAOF must benefit student-athletes directly and cannot be used to pay for expenses for a student-athlete's family or friends.
At The University of Texas at Austin, these funds are used to pay for many of the fees that are not covered by an athletics scholarship such as the general property deposit fee, placement testing fees or housing application fees.
SAOF is also used to pay for items that benefit all student-athletes such as new computers for the computer labs.
SAOF can also be used to assist student-athletes with individual expenses where appropriate. Requests for SAOF funds MUST be submitted to the Compliance office by the Student Services office. Thus any student-athlete wishing to make a request for SAOF funds should consult a Student Services staff member. Submission of a request for funds is not a guarantee that the request will be granted.
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