Bowing to widespread dissent among its member institutions, directors of the NCAA Division I on Saturday moved to defuse objections to a new scholarship aid plan by delaying its proposed implementation until the 2013-2014 academic year and using the time between now and then to refine details of the effort.

The board had decided last October to immediately allow schools in the Division I conferences to provide up to $2,000 in additional scholarship funding to student athletes to help cover more of their costs of attending college. The proposed new funding is called a “miscellaneous expense allowance.”

At the end of the organization’s annual national convention in Indianapolis, NCAA President Mark Emmert declared that preserving the scholarship aid proposal will prove beneficial to student-athletes despite its expected implementation undergoing a delay.

“I recognize the complexities of this issue. The impact of staying the course is relatively minor,” Emmert said in a NCAA statement. “If we err, it will be on the side of students.”

The change to 2013 from the original effective immediately plan of last fall was designed to address complaints from many member schools that details for implementing the new policy were vague and needed to be significantly clarified.

In that regard, the Division I board directed its Student-Athlete Well Being working group to present it by April a plan for implementation of the new aid provisions. The group was asked to consider student need, Title IX compliance and the “potential for stockpiling by universities.”

The Division I board is made up of presidents of colleges in the division.

The Division I board, which sets the rules of engagement for intercollegiate sports programs for about some 300 universities across the nation, stood by its decision to allow multi-year scholarships, a decision also made last fall that stirred far less dissent among member schools.