U of M to start giving education-related financial aid to student-athletes

The University of Minnesota has announced plans to provide more financial support to student-athletes.

Starting this fall, the U of M says it will start providing education-related financial aid to student-athletes.

Recent updates to NCAA rules allow for the university to provide the aid to student-athletes.

“I am pleased that the University of Minnesota is able to offer education-related financial support to our student-athletes,” Director of Athletics Mark Coyle said in a statement. “Our student-athletes continue to excel at a high level on and off the field and have set recent records with regard to GPA, Academic Progress Rate, Graduation Success Rate, Academic All-Big Ten honorees, Big Ten Distinguished Scholars and Academic All-Americans. We continue to look for ways to enhance the student-athlete experience and how best to prepare them for life during and after college. While we are still finalizing these plans in detail, we know providing education-related financial support is another step in the process of supporting our student-athletes.”

Gophers Athletics says, last year, its student-athletes posted a school-record cumulative GPA of 3.44.