On Monday, February 13, the Patriot League Council of Presidents endorsed a policy that will allow athletic merit aid (scholarships) for football. Beginning in 2013, each school will be permitted to allow up to the equivalent of 15 athletic financial aid awards each year to incoming football student-athletes, including transfers. That total may not exceed 60 equivalencies in any year (beginning in 2016). The move leaves the Ivy League as the only Division I conference in the NCAA not to offer athletic scholarships.
The league, founded in 1986 on the principles of “admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class,” previously allowed need-based financial aid to athletes in all sports and merit-based scholarships for 22 sports, except football. The league’s office is located in Center Valley, just a few miles from Lehigh University’s campus.
Begun as the Colonial League in 1986, the name was quickly changed to the Patriot League in 1990. Bucknell University, Colgate University, College of the Holy Cross, Lafayette College and Lehigh University are founding members of the Patriot League that sponsor football, while Fordham University and Georgetown University compete in football as associate members. The other full members of the league are American University, U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Naval Academy. These institutions are among the oldest and most prestigious academic institutions in the nation.
The Patriot League's member institutions consistently rank among the top Division I programs in the NCAA Graduation Rates Report and are recognized nationally for the effective integration of Division I athletics into the educational mission of the institution.
The Patriot League has held an automatic qualifying berth into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) playoffs since 1997. The league’s teams have done quite well in the playoffs against other scholarship offering schools. In 2003, Colgate University played in the national championship game falling to Delaware.
Lehigh Valley member schools, Lafayette College of Easton and Lehigh University of Bethlehem have played football 147 times, more than any other two college teams, dating back to 1884. Lafayette won three consecutive league championships from 2004 through 2006. Unfortunately, the Leopards record was 6-16 over the past two seasons. Lehigh has won the last two league titles and advanced to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision second round in 2010 losing to eventual national runner-up Delaware and reached the quarterfinal round in 2011, losing to eventual national champion North Dakota State.
Still, Patriot League schools have had trouble recruiting some high-caliber prospects in the past. Without scholarships they couldn’t compete with schools like Villanova, William and Mary, New Hampshire or Delaware. Student-athletes pursued by Patriot League teams were usually those who were financially poor and could receive a large amount of need-based aid; academically elite athletes who could win academic merit scholarships and those who were wealthy enough to pay their own way.
It costs about $51,800 to attend and live at Lehigh University for the 2011-12 school year. That figure includes classes, the technology fee, first year housing and a full meal plan. It costs about $53,020 to attend and live at Lafayette College for the 2011-12 school year. That figure includes tuition, an activity and technology fee, a standard room and a meal plan with 20 meals a week.
Lehigh head football coach, Andy Coen has emphasized that the addition of scholarships will not lower Lehigh's academic standard. "We'll still recruit the same caliber of student," he said. "Our pool of players must still meet the academic criteria. I want people to understand that."
Here is an interesting column by Alice P. Gast, Lehigh University President, which appeared recently in the school’s The Brown and White.
Shared values and common beliefs – how Lehigh values the Patriot League
It’s Wednesday in a Lehigh computer science class, and an athlete takes the form to the professor to ask permission to miss class for a game on Friday. They discuss what will be covered and how she will make up the material. On Friday morning, she loads up her athletic bag and book bag and heads for the bus. On the bus her teammates are all “in the zone” reading their textbooks, catching a nap or preparing for the game. They warm up in the arena, feeling at home with the familiar flags of the Patriot League teams on the wall. They look across the court at their opponents, comforted by the knowledge that they too have mid-terms next week. They focus on their game; they know their plan; they know how to execute. They are serious students and committed athletes. They are student-athletes of the Patriot League.
When we talk about the importance of playing “like minded” teams in our league, we are stating the importance of our common mission and shared values. The Patriot League is important to Lehigh because it gathers schools together to compete in fair competitions as peers and rivals that share common beliefs. We believe in the student-athlete. We believe in collegiate athletics in a way that may look old-fashioned today. Patriot League athletes are first and foremost students. We choose to participate in Division I athletics because it allows our student-athletes opportunities to challenge themselves and each other to compete at a very high level. We have competed in the Patriot League based on shared values for 25 years, and we envision upholding those values as a league for at least 25 more.
The Patriot League is like a family. We work together to define the policies that reflect our values. We collaborate on academic projects, shared international programs and leadership development for our students. We are much like the Ivy League, without the name that evokes ivy-covered halls (despite the fact that we have plenty of ivy growing on our campuses). We take pride in our students, and we do all that we can to ensure successful completion of their university education and the beginning of their contribution to the world outside of Lehigh. We list students’ majors in our programs, and we honor their academic achievements as a league. The regional proximity of our league member schools allows us to compete with one another with minimal time away from school and at moderate expense.
Like a family, the Patriot League faces challenges and needs to be ready to re-think how we work together, even as we hold firmly to our fundamental values. Today the challenges of recruiting student athletes in football and scheduling football contests against schools sharing our values and stature has made it necessary to seek a more flexible approach to awarding financial aid. This approach has worked well with our other varsity teams, and this flexibility in aid will allow us to maintain our core values while strengthening our ability to recruit the kind of student-athletes we seek. At Lehigh this flexibility will be administered within our current budget with no changes in admissions policy. By rising to these challenges and increasing flexibility, we can strengthen the Patriot League family for the future and sustain the ability to make collegiate athletics all that we believe it can be. We value the Patriot League, and we are proud to be able to make it stronger.
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