KJCCC implements new rule, guaranteeing more room for Kansas student athletes

Garden City, Kan. (Western Kansas News) – In a move designed to bolster rosters with more Kansas student athletes, the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) has implemented a new bylaw that requires institutional members to reserve at least 25% of their athletic Letters of Intent for local, Kansas-based student athletes.

The move now limits out of state scholarship offers to 75% of total offers made to student athletes. This change comes on the heels of policy that had originally allowed KJCCC schools to offer unlimited scholarships to out-of-state student athletes. The new bylaw was voted into agreement during the KJCCC meeting this last week, and saw member institutions support the proposed and now ratified change.

The bylaw ratification, in the principle of its design, is meant to strength KJCCC member institution ties with the state of Kansas and student athletes in the state who are looking to further their educations and their athletic development. This change is made on the backdrop of sweeping institutional changes being made at the NCAA level that has seen an almost entire eradication of walk-on athletes at the D1 level due to the shrinking of rosters. Of note, Kansas State Football last week, cut a number of walk-on athletes, much to the displeasure of the Kansas State coaching staff, due to these new policy changes at the NCAA level.

While no changes of this significance have been made at the NJCAA level of athletics, this new move by the KJCCC sets a precedent for retaining student athletes who might not have anywhere to go because of the shakeup at the NCAA level. Jayhawk Conference institutions, as well as other junior colleges across the country, stand to benefit from the expansion of available talent, due to the hotly contested implementations made by the NCAA across college athletics.