Sex Discrimination Robs Female Athletes Of Nearly $6.5 Million In Athletic Scholarships At 30 Schools & Universities

Statement of Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President, National Women’s Law Center, On Letters to 30 Colleges and Universities on Title IX’s 30^th Anniversary

            Thank you for coming today.  Before I begin, I would like to thank and introduce the legal team that conducted this investigation of sex discrimination into college athletic scholarships, Jocelyn Samuels, the Center’s Vice President for Educational Opportunities, and Senior Counsel Neena Chaudhry.  Our attorneys are available to help answer any questions you may have about particular schools. 

            This Sunday marks the 30^th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in all aspects of federally funded education, including athletic programs.  As we note the progress made because of Title IX, we must also recognize the work that remains to achieve true equality for women and girls in our schools. 

            As it turns 30, Title IX’s mission is far from complete.  Even when it comes to athletics, an area where there has been great progress, resources for women’s athletic programs continue to lag behind men’s.  While 53% of the students at Division I schools are women, these schools give their female athletes only 41% of the opportunities to play, 36% of the total operating budgets and 32% of recruiting dollars.  Moreover, too many schools are still not giving women their fair share of athletic scholarship dollars.

            When Title IX was passed 30 years ago, there were virtually no athletic scholarships for women.  Title IX requires institutions to allocate scholarships fairly between their male and female athletes and, as a result, countless young women have been helped, including many Olympic medal winners and World Cup soccer champions who have made our country so proud.  The law requires the percentages of total athletic scholarship dollars awarded to male and female athletes to be within one percent, or one scholarship, whichever is greater, of their total athletic participation rates, absent a school showing that nondiscriminatory reasons account for the disparity.  For example, if women comprise 40% of the athletes, they should get between 39 and 41% of the athletic scholarship dollars.  Given that the vast majority of our nation’s colleges and universities continue to limit athletic opportunities for female students, it is not asking for much to expect schools to be fair to the still limited numbers of young women who do get a chance to play. 

            Today, the National Women’s Law Center is sending 30 letters to 30 colleges and universities in 24 states whose own statistics show are failing to give their female athletes a fair share of athletic scholarship dollars as required by law.  (This chart shows the name of each school and its state.)  These schools do not by any means represent all of the institutions with athletic scholarship problems.  Many others could have been on this list, and we urge schools to evaluate their programs to ensure that they are complying with the law, and doing the right thing for their female athletes.  Our information is based on the most recent data available on the Department of Education’s web site, and provided by the schools themselves, under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. 

            The athletic scholarship gaps at the 30 schools range from 4% to 17%.  When these disparities are put into dollars, the concrete impact of the unfairness to these young women becomes clear.  The gap between what an average female athlete receives in athletic scholarship dollars and what an average male athlete receives ranges from $993 to $6,545 per year at these schools.  That amounts to a loss of close to $4,000 to over $26,000 during a female athlete’s four-year college career at these 30 schools. 

             At the 30 schools, as this chart shows, the average male athletic scholarship is $7,875 and the average female athletic scholarship is $5,744, with female athletes receiving on average $2,131 less per year than male athletes.  If the 30 schools we are looking at today awarded female athletes their fair share, the young women at these schools alone would receive a total of at least $6.5 million more in athletic scholarships.  Just imagine the costs to female athletes nationwide. 

Thirty years after Title IX was passed, this type of discrimination is unconscionable.  These lost athletic scholarship dollars place an enormous burden on these young women, not only while they are in school.  For example, loans burden students and their families long after college graduation.  But more starkly, the lack of fairness in scholarship allocations prevents many female students from ever getting a shot at higher education in the first place. 

            Women and their families know about the wage gap – they’re reminded every time women get their pay checks.  But too few of us know about the athletic scholarship gap that burdens our nation’s daughters – who have the skill and talent to play their hearts out, just like their brothers, and have the same tuition bills to pay, but who are being shortchanged by their colleges and universities. 

            As our investigation shows, we still need continued and greater enforcement of Title IX.  It takes a long time to root out this kind of persistent discrimination.  We call on these schools, and other institutions around the country, to do the right thing by their female athletes and bring themselves into compliance with the law. 

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The National Women's Law Center is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1972 to advance and protect women's legal rights.  The Center focuses on major policy areas of importance to women and their families including economic security, education, employment and health, with special attention given to the concerns of low-income women.