A federal judge in California has granted approval to $208.7 million settlement that will compensate thousands of student-athletes who received traditional college scholarships rather than a relatively new version that covers full cost of attending school, according to a report in USA Today.
The deal wraps up the damages portion of a suit that, along with another case, is still seeking to eliminate the NCAA’s new compensation limits together.
Attorney Steve Berman, speaking after a hearing that U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken held Friday in Oakland, told the paper approximately 43,000 current and former athletes will get checks from the settlements, and they will do so without having to film a claim form. All the money will come from the association financial reserves. Athletes covered by the settlement who played their sport for four years will receive an average of $6.000.
The settlement will apply to Division I men’s basketball, women’s basketball or the Football Bowl Subdivision whose award was limited to tuition, room, board, books and frees. Those athletes will be eligible for money if they were on scholarship during the 2009-10 school year or if they were on scholarship any time between then and 2015 when and NCAA rules change let Division I schools begin giving student-athletes in any sport a scholarship that covers the full cost of attendance.