Re: D1 Athletic Scholarships
At least at RIT (and I imagine at Union as well) like at most D-III schools, they do offer academic scholarships or grants to athletes as long as they are academically eligible (in theory) and not awarded at any higher of a rate to athletes than to the general student population. That is where some D-III programs (Geneseo) have gotten in trouble by awarding the "Scholarships for Canadiens" (or whatever they are called) to the hockey team, but to apparently not as many other students.
Let's be honest here. Many DIII Hockey schools like Plattsburgh, Oswego, Geneseo, Buffalo State, etc. aren't all that far from Canada. Plattsburgh and Oswego give grants to all International Students. Buffalo State and Geneseo were specifying all canadian students. In fact, this grant system was something mandated system-wide for the SUNY schools, although the schools implemented it differently (as I just described).
The difference here? Plattsburgh and Oswego were already getting a bunch of Canadian Students, athlete or not, while Geneseo and Buffalo State were not (despite their locations near Canada). So, those schools that were getting Canadian Students chose to spread out the money across the international spectrum (admittedly, giving a larger amount to Canadians than most others), while the others chose to use it attract Canadian students, regardless of athletic status.
As it so happened, the hockey coaches of all 4 schools were already recruiting in Canada (duh). All those teams pulled in student-athletes from Canada that they likely would have regardless of the grants. Oswego and Plattsburgh also pulled in the non-athlete Canadians they would have anyway, and likely many more non-Canadian international students because of the spread of the grants. Geneseo and Buffalo State, on the other hand, failed to increase their overall profile in Canada with the grant money, and continued to pull in few (if any) non-athlete Canadians.
Geneseo and Buffalo State were not sanctioned because they intentionally tried to circumvent the rules on athletic scholarships. They were sanctioned because a grant disproportionately, and at time exclusively, applied to student-athletes, thus creating a
de facto athletic scholarship. If anything, the hockey teams were punished because the admissions department were not diligent enough in promoting the school in the land to the north.
Unfortunately, this is a fine line that almost all DIII schools, and I'm sure a few non-scholarship DI schools, walk. Do the schools create the grants programs to help recruiting for hockey? No. But does that mean a hockey coach can't mention it, since it does provide him with a bit of a bargaining chip? Absolutely not.
It is a much safer process for higher-profile schools, such as the Ivies, as well as schools who are particularly known in Canada, even if it is only in regions of Canada that happen to be nearby, such as Plattsburgh, Oswego, and RIT. It is a very dangerous gambit for schools like Geneseo and Buff State, who were unfortunately not very recognizable amangst canadian student
