New era: UC Berkeley wants to help student-athletes take advantage of new NCAA rules

BERKELEY, Calif. - It's a new era for college athletes, including UC Berkeley's star safety Elijah Hicks.

"It's really big for college athletes. Someone from my background, not having much," Hicks said.

Under a new California law and NCAA regulations, for the first time, student-athletes can control and even profit from their name, image and likeness, called NIL, without being kicked off the team or jeopardizing a scholarship.

But how you assume that control, and perhaps profit from it, can be difficult lessons to learn.

That's why Cal Athletics is launching the GOLDEN Program to help all student-athletes, in any sport, maneuver in that new world.

Hicks was part of the working group that helped establish the program.

"You are learning about how to get into deals, learning about contracts. And learning to partnership with people," he said.

Stanford has started a similar program for its athletes called Cardinal 
Connect.

Cal's world-renowned Haas School of Business will also be participating in the program, inviting professional athletes, lawyers, and business executives to give lectures.

Hicks, who started a nonprofit to help financially struggling students at Berkeley called the Intercept Poverty Foundation, says he hopes now to be able to expand it.

"I'm in the process of getting other student-athletes involved and possibly getting it adopted at other schools in the Pac-12."

Hicks also says student-athletes in lower-profile sports can also benefit from the new program.