New academic standards approved by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. are designed to make it easier for student athletes to enter college but more difficult to keep playing sports.

The new policies, which take effect Aug. 1, were approved last week by the NCAA’s Division I board of directors. Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who is the board’s chairman, helped craft the new policies.

“They’re significantly stronger,” Hemenway said. “They require students to meet a higher standard, and that’s what everybody was looking for. I don’t think it will affect many athletes at KU at all, but it does set a higher standard for athletes to meet.”

The new policies allow student athletes entering college to use a combination of grade-point average and SAT scores. The policies allow students to have an SAT as low as 400 if they have attained a GPA of 3.55 or higher in 14 core courses.

Currently, athletes must have an 820 on the SAT and a GPA of 2.5 in 13 core courses. Critics have argued the 820 standard is an arbitrary cut-off.

Hemenway also noted that minority students traditionally score lower on standardized tests and said academic experts say GPA is a better predictor of success in college than SAT scores.

“You could have a perfect GPA and have an 815 and not be eligible,” he said. “Having a cutoff score has a disparate impact on students of color. I think the sliding scale’s a much fairer way of doing it.”

For students already at the university, the new policies will increase the number of credit hours required each semester. They will need to complete 40 percent of the courses required for a degree by the beginning of their third year of school, 60 percent by the fourth year and 80 percent by their fifth year.

That’s up from the current 25, 50 and 75 percent requirements.

Paul Buskirk, KU associate athletic director for support services, said a fall 2001 survey of KU student athletes showed all met the new NCAA requirements. KU hasn’t done a similar analysis of 2002 freshmen.

“We are watching it,” he said. “It’s a significant change, but right now I’m not concerned.”

Janelle Martin, KU associate athletic director who handles compliance issues, said the Big 12 conference already had stricter academic standards than the NCAA.

“This kind of helps us, because it forces other universities to catch up to where we are,” she said.

Hemenway said the NCAA will continue to consider academic reforms in the next year. He said he’d like the board of directors to increase the number of core courses required in high school from 14 to 16.

He also wants universities to improve how they track graduation rates and progress toward academic standards. The NCAA could offer incentives to schools that do well or punish those who don’t by prohibiting them from NCAA basketball tournament play or football bowl games, he said.