Protecting future, current, and former college athletes
The National College Players Association (NCPA) is a 501c3 nonprofit advocacy association made up of current and former college athletes, and has been leading the college athletes' rights movement since 2001.
NCPA advocacy has made health and safety, Title IX enforcement, and fair compensation key areas of focus in Congressional hearings. Our organization has been pivotal to bringing forth essential reforms to the NCAA.
Join The NCPANCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma became an advocate for college athletes' rights while playing football for UCLA when he founded a student group to give college athletes the means to voice their concerns and secure basic protections in NCAA sports. He started the organization after witnessing the NCAA suspend his All American teammate over groceries that were left anonymously on his doorstep when he had no food, and after being informed that the NCAA prevented colleges from paying for medical expenses for injuries that occurred during summer workouts.
The student group evolved into The National College Players Association (NCPA), a 501c3 nonprofit advocacy group. Huma secured the strong backing of the United Steelworkers and, since its creation, the NCPA has empowered thousands of college athletes from over 150 campuses to participate in actions in pursuit of improving the lives of college athletes.
Huma has held hundreds of meetings with lawmakers and testified in support of college athletes' rights in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, state legislatures, and city councils. Huma has served as a primary voice and has assisted in developing laws in support of college athlete name, image, and likeness legislation in over a dozen states including California, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, and Texas as well as the United States Congress. He has also provided expertise and witnesses to the US Department of Justice regarding NCAA antitrust violations on multiple occasions, and served as a consultant in athletes' rights antitrust lawsuits including White v. NCAA, Agnew v. NCAA, O'Bannon v. NCAA, and Alston/Jenkins v. NCAA.
The NCPA mission is to provide the means for college athletes to voice their concerns and change NCAA rules.
To protect future, current, and former college athletes.
Protect college athletes from sexual abuse, serious injury, and preventable death through mandatory safety standards enforced by an independent entity with authority to investigate violations and discipline athletic personnel.
Colleges must be held accountable for paying athletes' sports-related medical expenses. Although the NCAA now requires Division I schools to cover these expenses, meaningful enforcement is necessary to ensure athletes and their families are not left with unpaid medical bills.
The ultimate goal for a college athlete is not a scholarship, it's a degree. The NCAA and its member colleges receive billions of dollars tax free because of their educational mission. College athletes face extraordinary athletic time demands that can interfere with graduating on time. Colleges should guarantee up to six years of athletic scholarship support for athletes in good academic standing, ensuring they have adequate time and financial assistance to earn their degrees.
All NCAA Division I schools should be required to maintain, at a minimum, their aggregate 2024–25 athletic roster spots and scholarship opportunities in women's and Olympic sports.
Prohibit colleges from reducing or eliminating athletic scholarships because of injuries. These protections should apply to athletes across all NCAA divisions.
We have won unprecedented freedoms and reforms in this area, but overbearing restrictions still remain. College athletes should have the same economic and legal rights and freedoms guaranteed to other students and US citizens. Players are people not property.
It is an injustice to punish college athletes for actions that they did not commit i.e. suspending a team's post-season eligibility for the inappropriate actions of boosters. Such punishments have significant negative impacts on the short college experience of many college athletes. Alternative forms of punishment are available and should be utilized to allow an adequate policing of the rules.
Below is a timeline of some NCPA activities and accomplishments:
2001-2003: Raised health and safety issues during a Congressional hearing and circulated a player petition after the deaths of three football players and a paralyzed college football was denied home health care. The NCAA responded by lifting its prohibition of medical oversight of summer workouts, providing home health care benefits for seriously injured players, increasing death benefits from $10,000 to $25,000, and prohibiting consecutive two-a-day practices to help prevent deaths.
2003: NCPA-sponsored legislation backed by athlete testimony was approved by the California Senate and moved the NCAA to allow athletes to receive merit-based scholarships in addition to their athletic scholarship.
2005-2011: NCPA helped develop an antitrust lawsuit to end NCAA economic restrictions on college athletes. The settlement included the elimination of the NCAA’s ban on year-round comprehensive medical insurance, and created a 3-year $10 million fund to support former college athlete degree completion.
2009-2014: Assisted O'Bannon v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit that increased scholarship limits $3000-$5000/year to meet players’ living expenses while attending college. This unlocked approximately $100 million per year to support college athlete degree completion.
2010-2011: Developed model legislation to increase transparency and minimize deceptive recruiting practices. It became law in California and Connecticut.
2011-2013: Conducted joint studies with college faculty highlighting the disparity between profits generated by college athletes and gaps in athletes' academic and economic protections. Findings: over 80% of full scholarship athletes live below the federal poverty line, while NCAA rules deny players approx. $6 billion over four years.
2011-2012: Assisted the US Department of Justice investigation regarding the harmful impact of 1-year scholarships, which lead to the elimination of the NCAA’s scholarship duration limit. Today, many colleges throughout the United State regularly provide 4-5 year scholarships.
2012: Co-sponsored The Student-Athletes’ Bill of Rights, which was voted into California law and requires high-revenue athletic programs to provide scholarships for permanently injured athletes, sports-related medical coverage, and scholarships for degree completion.
2014: Helped develop and support passage of the city of Boston’s college athlete health and safety ordinance. Arranged the Jenkins v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit seeking injunctive relief from the NCAA's illegal cap on college athlete compensation (lawsuit was later combined with Alston .v NCAA).
2015: Assisted CNN investigation of player abuse across three sports at the University of Illinois, leading to the firing of the head football coach and athletic director.
2017-2018: Developed and launched the College Athlete Protection (CAP) Guarantee, a free, legally binding contract that empowers high school recruits and their parents to secure vital protections such as guaranteed medical expenses, scholarship assurance if permanently injured, multiyear scholarships, and funds for degree completion. Sponsored three bills and worked with college faculty to expand key health and safety, medical coverage, and degree completion benefits for college athletes that were approved by the California Assembly.
2018: Provided resources, analysis, and policy proposals to the North Carolina State Legislature that led to the introduction of state legislation seeking to provide physical, academic, and financial protections for college athletes.
2019: Co-sponsored the California Fair Pay to Play Act (SB 206), which will allow California college athletes the ability to secure professional and legal representation and receive compensation for use of their name, image, and likenes without being punished by their college, conference, or athletic association. This legislation was signed into law with 100% unanimous bipartisan support. Presented to the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division on various unjust and likely illegal NCAA policies and practices that harm college athletes.
2020: Served as the primary supporter of a college name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation bill signed into Florida state law. Providing policy guidance and informational resources to state and federal lawmakers; and testified in the US Senate in support of legislation that would allow college athletes to receive compensation for use of their NIL. Assisting college athletes and their families with strategies to help address mistreatment, abuse, deceptive practices, and other injustices on their respective campuses. Continuing efforts to raise awareness and use of the CAP Guarantee among high school recruits and their parents. Launched the NCPA racial justice initiative to help foster civic engagement among college athletes who are using their voice to address racial injustice in college sports, on their campuses, and in policing.
2021: Assisted over a dozen states in adopting laws to allow college athlete representation and the ability to earn money for use of their NIL. NCPA basketball leaders Jordan Bohannon (Iowa), Geo Baker (Rutgers), and Isaiah Livers (Michigan) recruited other basketball players and launched the historic #NotNCAAProperty campaign during the NCAA Tournament to protest the NCAA's illegal prohibition on athlete representation and NIL pay. US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of the lawsuit that the NCPA arranged in 2014, opening the door for college athletes to receive approximately $6000 per year in educational-related compensation in addition to their athletic scholarship (Jenkins v. NCAA/Alston v. NCAA). This ruling, combined with 27 states that followed California's lead by adopting an NIL law, resulted in the NCAA abandoning its illegal prohibition on athlete representation and NIL compensation. Published the NCPA's Official NIL Ratings that scores each state's NIL law based on the degree to which freedoms and rights are guaranteed to athletes in each state.
2022: Filed unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board against UCLA, USC, the Pac-12, and the NCAA to establish employee status for NCAA DI football, men's basketball, and women's basketball players nationwide.
Filed a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights against NCAA DI colleges for collectively imposing an athlete compensation limit that violates civil rights law by creating a disparate (disproportional) impact on Black students.
Sponsored a California bill that would ensure college athletes receive fair market compensation, create Title IX enforcement at the state level, and preserve all sports. Worked with several states to improve their NIL laws.
2023: Sponsored the College Athlete Protection Act, a California bill sought to require colleges to share 50% of team revenue with athletes and bring forth comprehensive protections for college athletes.
Filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against a university to affirm FBS football players' employee status and end the compensation limit that causes a disparate impact on Black football players.
2023-24: Following years of NCPA advocacy for extended scholarships and degree completion funding, the NCAA expanded its requirement that Division I schools provide tuition, fees, and books for eligible former athletes seeking to complete their first undergraduate degree within 10 years of leaving school. NCPA continues advocating for broader scholarship guarantees that give athletes adequate time to graduate.
2024: The NCAA prohibits Division I schools from reductions or cancellations of qualifying athletic scholarships based on injuries, illness, athletic performance, or roster-management decisions. These changes advanced protections NCPA has championed for years.
2024: Reached an advocacy milestone when EA Sports allowed FBS football players to opt-in to its College Football video game and to receive pay for EA's use of their name, image and likeness in the game.
2025: Testified before two U.S. House congressional hearings to defend college athletes' rights and demand stronger health, safety, and economic protections. Helped lead opposition to the NCAA-backed SCORE Act, which would strip athletes of important legal rights and protections. House leadership ultimately canceled a scheduled vote on the bill amid bipartisan opposition.
2025: Partnered with Nebraska Senator Megan Hunt on legislation to strengthen college athletes' NIL rights.
2026: Working with athlete abuse survivors, families, and advocates, the NCPA helped secure a Senate amendment ensuring that lawsuits involving sexual abuse, physical injury, or death cannot be blocked by the PCSA's "30-day cure" loophole. The Senate also added a legal duty requiring the NCAA to take reasonable actions to ensure member compliance with safety standards. NCPA continues opposing the legislation because other critical protections remain inadequate.
