Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program
In 1988, the National Collegiate Athletic Association established the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program as a means of recognizing the contributions of the former executive director through encouraging excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. Under this program, one male and one female student-athlete annually will be awarded a postgraduate scholarship in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and potential for success in postgraduate study. It is intended that an individual named a Byers Scholar will be recognized as one who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements and promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field of career service.
The Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program is separate and distinct from the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program, which provides numerous annual awards with smaller stipends. The stipend for each Byers Scholarship is $21,500 for an academic year. The amount will be reviewed every two years so that the purchasing power of the award will remain reasonably close to the award as initially conceived in 1988.
Final award is contingent upon acceptance and attendance at an accredited, nonprofit educational institution; stipends will be paid through the institution in which the Byers Scholar is enrolled for graduate study. To defer the scholarship for any reason, a Byers Scholar must submit a written request to the committee for approval. The program is administered by the Walter Byers Scholarship Committee, which is established by the NCAA membership and appointed by the NCAA Divisions I, II and III Management Councils.
For more details and to download the application form, please visit our website.