DIII runner banned for accepting crowdfunded tuition to stay in school

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Earlier this week, Bati, a Division III runner at Augsburg University and the NCAA DIII cross country national runner-up, announced that he has been ruled ineligible for the entire indoor and outdoor track seasons after accepting roughly $6,000 from members of his community to help cover tuition costs.

The money allowed him to finish the semester. It also ended his final year of NCAA competition.

In a post shared on Strava, Bati explained that he had been struggling financially last semester while working overnight shifts at a hospital. Faced with the possibility of leaving school, people around him stepped in to help. The support, he wrote, was not business or payment, but community support that allowed him to stay enrolled.

Under NCAA rules, it was still a violation.

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One detail is essential to understanding the case. Division III athletes are allowed to earn money through Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities.

What Division III athletes cannot do is receive outside financial assistance that functions as tuition support or extra-athletic benefit unless it fits within approved financial aid structures or legitimate NIL agreements.

Bati’s situation did not.

The $6,000 he received was not tied to promotion, branding, appearances, or any exchange of value related to his athletic identity. It was not compensation. It was not an endorsement. It was not NIL.

Once the NCAA determined that the funds did not qualify as NIL, they were classified as an impermissible benefit.

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The NCAA needs to be disbanded, honestly. Accept millions for an "NIL deal" from a "collective" for a football player to decommit from a school and play for another, all clear. Accept crowdfunding while working a job and paying your own way, death penalty. It's a joke of a system.

If I were this kid or his coaches, I'd probably run him anyway and dare the NCAA to step in. The NCAA is getting its arse whipped in court on the daily, why not force their hand here too?