Indiana offers 4-year scholarships as part of student-athlete 'bill of rights'

Indiana University is offering fully guaranteed, four-year scholarships as part of a "student-athlete bill of rights," athletic director Fred Glass announced on Friday.

Glass laid out a ten-point list of actions the school will be taking to ensure that all of their athletes are treated fairly in return for their service to the school, including expanding the four-year scholarship to include various one-time fees that currently fall to students to pay, and adding the cost of books to partial athletic scholarships.

The school is following the lead of fellow Big Ten member Northwestern, as well as USC, who announced earlier this week they would also be offering four year scholarships to athletes instead of the year-to-year offers that are most common throughout the NCAA.

Glass said the move will increase the accountability of the school's leadership.

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"We developed the Bill of Rights to identify not only what we were currently doing for our student-athletes but what we should be doing.   We have committed to this extensive set of benefits and set it out transparently in writing, so that we can be held accountable for them by our student-athletes and other stakeholders such as our faculty and trustees."

The new guidelines also increase protection for injured athletes, and allow for students who left Indiana early in good standing to return and finish their degrees free of charge.

-Brendan Maloy