Nebraska invests in more time for athletes to be students
Ashley Stone’s phone rang, and it rang with good news: Kelly Dunn, a former swimmer at the University of Nebraska, had gotten a job offer.
Dunn had been working as a business development intern at the National Research Corporation in Lincoln, Neb., and about three-quarters of the way into the spring semester, the company had offered her a full-time position. What’s unusual is not that a college graduate had gotten a job; it’s how she did it — by taking advantage of Nebraska’s new post-eligibility opportunities (PEO) program for its athletes, which includes scholarships up to $7,500 for internship, study abroad and Nebraska graduate school use.
“The whole program is meant to provide you these opportunities to get you the experience and expertise you need to land a full-time job,” said Stone, who works in Nebraska’s life skills department and is the PEO coordinator. “It was really neat being able to see her grow through this experience and actually be able to land a full-time job before she was even finished with her internship.”
College athlete well-being, and most recently the time demands on athletes from their respective sports, has never been a greater focus than it is today. In the spirit of those concerns, Nebraska’s PEO program launched last year with simple requirements for athletes to become involved: Any athlete who had exhausted his or her sport eligibility, completed his or her bachelor’s degree and earned a scholar-athlete ring are eligible once they attend an introductory workshop.
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Currently, 84 student-athletes are eligible for the funds and 30 will have used PEO program funds by the end of 2016. This summer, one student will be interning in England, and another in New Zealand.
Athletes who meet the PEO program’s requirements have up to three years from the time of their graduation or the end of their playing career (whichever is latest) to participate in the program.
Nebraska takes great pride in the ability to give its athletes something their student body peers had during their undergraduate college experience: Time. Time to find a job. Time to build a résumé. Time to experience a different culture.
“Ninety-nine percent of the rest of the student body has those similar experiences, so we want to be able to provide those (to student-athletes) in a manner that makes sense,” Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst said.
“I think we want it all. … We want to recruit the best and the brightest that fit what we're trying to get done here in Nebraska — that's to put them people in a position to be successful and compete in the classroom and pursue that degree at the highest level. We think the best way to do that is to be very well-rounded in our approach and really want it all, the total personal development.
“You exhaust your eligibility, you graduate, and we're going to help you in three areas. We're going to help you get an internship, we're going to help you travel abroad, and we're going to help you get started in grad school. We’re doing this because we want to do it, because it's right for our students. That's the most important thing.”
Stone said the PEO program has become a recruiting tool, something that impresses both prospects and their parents. Coaches make sure to point out how rare this program is across college athletics so that recruits and their current players understand the commitment the school is making.
“I'm really proud of that,” Nebraska football coach Mike Riley said. “It's gotten to the point now where guys are around campus virtually all year. They have a three-week window between the end of spring term and summer school. Besides that, they're around here most of the time. They get a week break at spring break like everybody, but playing in a bowl game they don't get much Christmas.
“It's nice to look at their lives, and then see what's missing and be able to put some pieces in place that are important to their college life — not just athletics all the time.”