A student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC) is a committee made up of student-athletes assembled to provide insight on the student-athlete experience. Per NCAA rules, all Division II institutions must sponsor a campus SAAC. The SAAC also offers input on the rules, regulations and polices that affect student-athletes' lives on NCAA member institution campuses. Ask your athletics director or another senior athletics department administrator who your SAAC chair or president is. After finding out who your SAAC chair or president is, ask this student how you can be involved with your campus SAAC. Your SAAC representatives serve as the voice of student-athletes on your campus. For more information about Division II SAAC, click here.

The national Division II SAAC ensures that each institution has representation in discussions that occur at the national level. Representation is ensured by having committee members from the various Division II athletics conferences represent the voice of their institutions’ campus SAACs. There is one representative from each multisport voting conference and three at-large representatives who serve on behalf of all Division II student-athletes. Do you know who represents your conference on the national SAAC? Take time to find out who represents your voice by viewing the DII National SAAC roster here, ask questions and share your thoughts.

A "redshirt" season is a year in which a student-athlete does not compete at all against outside competition. During a year in which the student-athlete does not compete, a student can practice with his or her team and receive financial aid. NCAA Division II student-athletes have 10 semesters or 15 quarters of full-time enrollment in order to participate as a student-athlete. Of these 10 semesters or 15 quarters, a student-athlete only has four years of athletics eligibility (seasons of competition) in which he or she can participate against outside competition. Because of this, there is an extra year of time, and many student-athletes choose to use this extra time as a "redshirt" year in which they practice with their team but do not compete against other teams in competition.

There are many administrators on your campus who care about you as students and as athletes. Some of these administrators include your school's athletics director, senior woman administrator, faculty athletics representative and compliance administrator. If you have not met these individuals on your campus, take time to get to know them. They care about your needs and can help you in many ways.

Additionally, your university's health services, counseling center and career services offices are excellent resources regardless of your athletics status.

Division II student-athletes must meet certain academic requirements to be certified as eligible for athletics competition. Your compliance administrator works to certify that each student-athlete is eligible according to NCAA rules. Talk with your compliance administrator about which eligibility rules apply to you.

If you have a question about NCAA rules, the absolute best resources are the administrators on your campus. These individuals can answer almost all your questions and are interested in the questions and issues that you have as a student-athlete. However, if you need further assistance, NCAA governance and member services has a hotline set up to handle questions from member schools, student-athletes and the general public. You can reach governance and member services by calling 317/917-6003. Examples of the types of questions that are typically asked by student-athletes include transfer issues, academic requirements and questions about time limitations for student-athletes’ practice activities.

There are limits on the amount of time that you may permissibly spend practicing or preparing for your sport, both in and out of season. Activities that must count towards these time limitations include any required activity with an athletics purpose involving student-athletes and at the direction of, or supervised by, one or more of an institution's coaching staff. Make sure that you speak with your campus compliance administrator about specific hour limitations for your sport. Also, make sure that your coach is monitoring the amount of time each individual student-athlete is spending per week engaged in these countable activities.

Each Division II student-athlete has 10 semesters or 15 quarters of full-time collegiate enrollment to participate as a student-athlete. Within these 10 semesters or 15 quarters, a student-athlete has four years of athletics eligibility (seasons of competition) in which he or she can participate against outside competition.

Scholarships are awarded directly by each school and not the NCAA national office. There are NCAA rules that govern limitations on athletics scholarships as well as how these scholarships are distributed and renewed to student-athletes. Take time to speak with your compliance administrator about what these rules are, and how these rules protect you as a student-athlete. Also, if you are receiving an athletically related scholarship, make sure to read the scholarship agreement so that you understand everything you need to know about your financial aid. One important note about scholarships given for athletics is that by Division II rule they are limited to a one-year term and renewed on a year-to-year basis.