UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - Saginaw Valley State University Department of Athletics announced that two of its former student-athletes, Kait Harris (Essexville, Mich./Garber HS) and Nikki Bigelow (Grandville, Mich.), have been awarded the NCAA Division II Degree-Completion Award.  

Harris, a former setter on the volleyball team, earned AVCA All-American honors as well as being named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Player of the Year in 2009.  Bigelow, a former catcher on the softball team, helped lead her team to back-to-back GLIAC championships in the 08 and 09 seasons and a return trip to NCAA Midwest Regional Finals in 2010.  Bigelow was also honored for having the highest GPA amongst SVSU athletes at the annual Student-Athlete Academic Banquet that was held in February.  

The NCAA Division II Degree-Completion Award is a scholarship to assist former student-athletes that have used all of their athletic eligibility and will not be receiving athletically related financial aid from their institution.  The student must meet six requirements determined by a committee composed of representatives from the NCAA Division II member institutions.  The applicant must be a student-athlete that has completed and exhausted all athletic eligibility, received athletically related financial aid, be within 32 semester hours (48 quarter hours) of completion of an undergraduate degree, have a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 2.5, and the applicant cannot receive any athletics financial aid from the member institution.