Between class, endless practices, training requirements, and personal lives, it's a wonder that National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) athletes make it through the four-year (or five-year) gauntlet on a roster and with a degree in hand. In fact, without assistance from competent professionals employed by their school, most athletes would not be able to make it through.

Unfortunately, NCAA-affiliated universities do not always hire competent professionals. When school employees fall short of their duties, including failing to monitor students' eligibility and inform the student-athlete of potential eligibility issues, the student-athlete generally pays the price.

Manhattan College Is a Prime Example of a School Failing Its Student-Athletes

The case of Manhattan College represents an egregious case of an NCAA-affiliated university failing to follow protocols for ensuring student-athlete eligibility. The NCAA alleges that Manhattan College officials:

• Certified athletes to compete in athletics who were not eligible to do so
• Recruited prospects without completing required recruiting exams
• Failed to maintain its eligibility certification program, including failure to assign specific responsibilities to specific departments
• Failed to ensure athletes were making required progress toward degrees
• Failed to ensure transfers complied with NCAA eligibility requirements
• Committed other infractions in violation of NCAA eligibility requirements

Seemingly, every single one of these failures fell upon university employees, including coaches, recruiters, athletics academic advisors, and compliance officers. While the school itself faced fines, probation, and various other sanctions, we don't hear about students who may have lost scholarships and faced other consequences because of their superiors' misdeeds.

Permanently Benched: The Consequences of Schools' Failures to Ensure Student-Athlete Eligibility

Student-athletes too often pay the price for failures beyond their control. When a university does not ensure the student's eligibility, it may:

• Enroll a student in the university (and athletic program) under false pretenses
• Fail to warn a student that they are nearing academic ineligibility, which may compromise the student's scholarship and enrollment
• Compromise any athletic feats the student-athlete achieves while performing for the university, such as championships and personal records that could provide short- and long-term financial benefits
• Set the student-athlete up for the loss of a scholarship, dismissal, and other life-altering sanctions

Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) explains that students who are not eligible to compete for any reason, including academic underperformance or lack of necessary credits, are "not likely" to keep their scholarships. A school's eligibility-related failures may also prevent the athlete from transferring to another program, potentially wasting the student-athletes prime athletic years.

The Lento Law Firm Can Help You With NCAA Eligibility- and Certification-Related Problems

Whether you need to file a grievance or take any other action to achieve reinstatement or another outcome, the Lento Law Firm Team can help. Student-athlete defense is one of our foremost focuses, and we have helped many students that were facing the loss of eligibility and other serious consequences.

We can negotiate directly with your school's Office of General Counsel (OGC). This is the school's attorney, and they may have the power to recommend that the school keeps you on scholarship or enact any other goal you seek.

Call the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online. Don't wait, as NCAA eligibility cases may involve deadlines that affect your case outcome.