The governing body for college athletics has handed down stiff penalties to a Central Coast university for the way it handled stipends for some student-athletes.
A NCAA committee found that between 2012 and 2015, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo violated rules over stipends for books. The investigation concluded that instead of covering the actual cost of materials, Cal Poly provided blanket $800 cash stipends.
The NCAA imposed a number of penalties, but the most severe is that student-athletes who received the money were declared ineligible. It means victories by the various sports teams with the affected students, along with any records which were set are now voided.
Cal Poly appealed the penalties, saying the students were being penalized even though they didn't know they were doing anything wrong. The university also argued the amount of money involved was minimal, and that had it known, it would have immediately fixed the problem. But, the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee upheld the decision and the penalties.
