Education Department rescinds Biden memo that threatened to upend college NIL payments

The U.S. Education Department is scrapping last-minute guidance issued by the Biden administration that threatened to upend colleges’ plans to pay athletes for their name, image and likeness by making those payments subject to federal Title IX rules.

In a move that was largely expected, President Donald Trump’s education officials announced the change Wednesday, saying the memo from former President Joe Biden’s final days in office had no legal basis under Title IX, the 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education.

“The NIL guidance, rammed through by the Biden Administration in its final days, is overly burdensome, profoundly unfair and it goes well beyond what agency guidance is intended to achieve,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

A Jan. 16 memo from the Biden administration told universities that NIL payments must be treated the same as athletic financial aid such as scholarships. It sent athletic departments across the country back to the drawing board.

Football and men’s basketball players were expected to receive the bulk of the $20.5 million that athletic departments will be allowed to distribute starting next school year. Universities had to figure out whether they needed to change plans to avoid running afoul of the Biden policy, which said NIL payments “must be made proportionately available to male and female athletes.”

Passed in 1972, Title IX requires that schools pay out financial assistance in proportion to the number of students of each gender who play sports on campus. It also calls for schools to provide opportunities to play varsity sports in proportion to the gender distribution on campus.

Attorneys differed on whether the Biden memo placed the scheduled April 7 approval of the House settlement, which dictates the financial boundaries for the NIL payments, in jeopardy.

Trump’s education officials said such a sweeping change would require “clear legal authority” that does not exist.

“Enacted over 50 years ago, Title IX says nothing about how revenue-generating athletics programs should allocate compensation among student athletes,” Trainor said.

It’s the second time in eight days the Trump administration has used Title IX to advance its priorities. Last week’s executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports was also a Title IX move. It gives federal agencies the ability to ensure schools that receive federal funding abide by the administration’s views on the law.

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