The U.S. Department of Education has reversed a recent directive previously established under the Biden administration regarding college athletes’ compensation for their name, image, and likeness (NIL). This guidance had potentially complicated the ability of colleges to compensate student-athletes, as it suggested that NIL payments would need to comply with federal Title IX regulations.
The announcement came Wednesday, led by officials from the Trump administration, who deemed the memo issued during Biden’s final days in office as lacking a sound legal basis under Title IX— the legislation enacted in 1972 to prevent sex discrimination in education settings. Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, criticized Biden’s guidance as excessively burdensome, fundamentally unfair, and inconsistent with the purpose of agency guidance.
Previously, a memo distributed on January 16 by the Biden administration mandated that universities consider NIL payments equivalent to athletic financial aid, like scholarships. This ruling prompted athletic departments nationwide to reassess their financial distribution plans. Notably, athletes in football and men’s basketball were projected to receive a significant portion of the $20.5 million allocated for distribution among athletes starting in the next academic year. The Biden policy stipulated that NIL payments had to be “proportionately available to male and female athletes,” pressuring universities to conform to these specifications.
Title IX requires educational institutions to allocate financial assistance similarly to the percentage of students of each gender involved in sports and mandates equal opportunities for varsity sports aligned with campus gender distribution. Legal opinions varied on whether Biden’s policy posed a threat to the anticipated approval of a financial settlement regarding NIL payments scheduled for April 7. The Trump administration officials expressed that such a substantial change to existing practices would necessitate “clear legal authority,” which they argue is absent.
Trainor noted that Title IX, established over 50 years ago, does not address how programs generating revenue should distribute compensation among student-athletes. Furthermore, this decision marks a continued use of Title IX by the Trump administration to bolster its administrative objectives, following a recent executive order restricting transgender athletes’ participation in women’s and girls’ sports. This order empowers federal agencies to ensure that schools receiving federal funds conform to the administration’s interpretation of Title IX.
