Touch Down is a football student-athlete at Ocean State University (OSU). Touch exhausted his eligibility in the fall and will graduate with an environmental studies degree in May. The coaches will be honoring Touch this weekend at their annual team awards banquet. The coaches would like to provide Touch’s parents with free admission to the banquet. Is this permissible?
Yes. NCAA Bylaw 16.6.1.6.1 states that on one occasion during the final academic year of a student-athlete’s athletics eligibility, an institution may provide complimentary admissions for the student-athlete’s parents or legal guardians to attend an institutional awards banquet at which the student-athlete is being honored. (Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)