One of the purposes of the creation of the Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) position by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was to ensure that women were involved in decision making processes in a meaningful way (NCAA, 1991). Financial decision making has been cited as a significant and critical area to career advancement in intercollegiate athletics (Grappendorf, Lough, & Griffin, 2004; Tiell, 2004). Tiell (2004) found that athletic directors perceive the SWA to be empowered to make decisions, but the Senior Woman Administrators (SWA's) did not. Sagas and Cunningham (2004) contended that SWA's made up the greatest potential group to become head athletic directors. Therefore, the implications of this study will contribute to the knowledge of intercollegiate policy makers and athletic administrators who wish to shed light on the issue of lack of involvement of SWA's in the roles that were intended to empower females in career advancement. Surveys of all (N = 641) NCAA SWAs were emailed and included six areas of financial decision making (Operations, Budgeting, Capital Outlay, Salary Consideration, Media/Broadcast Contracts, and Sponsorship /Advertising). There were 268 responses for a return rate of 41.8%. For each decision area, participants were asked to rank their actual and desired frequency of participation, the title of person primarily responsible for decisions in that area, and how important decision making influence in that area contributed to overall influence at the institution. Descriptive statistics were analyzed and an ANOVA conducted using separate 5 x 2 (Division x Job) with repeated measures on the last factor. Of the study participants, 49.1% (n = 132) indicated that gender was “never” an issue as related to decision making processes, whereas 32 % (n = 86) indicated gender was “important” or “very important” when it comes to making financial decisions. When being excluded from financial decisions, 24.2 % (n = 65) of the SWA's indicated that it was the result of a lack of experience, 21.6% (n = 58) indicated a lack of knowledge, and 13.8 % (n = 37) believed it was lack of competence. Results from the opened ended survey items in which SWA's were asked to provide insight into the role of the SWA with regard to financial decision making revealed themes about power and control, years of experience, the “good ‘ol boys” network, limited resources, monitoring and oversight, and the limited significance of the role of the SWA. Keyword(s): college level issues, gender issues, professional preparation