DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University has met the requirements of a U.S. Office of Civil Rights ruling that it give more financial support to female scholarship athletes.

A complaint filed in 1997 by the National Women's Law Center said Duke and 24 other universities failed to comply with a Title IX mandate requiring that scholarship money be divided between male and female athletes.

Since then, Duke has increased by 13 percent the amount of money it set aside for female athletes. During the 2000-01 school year, the school gave them more than 40 percent, matching the percentage of its student athletes who are female.

Now that Duke has met the benchmark, it no longer has to report yearly to the Office of Civil Rights, ending that requirement a year early, said Chris Kennedy, senior associate director of athletics.

In the next 2-to-3 years, the university will bring the women's share of athletic aid to 47 percent, about the same as the percentage of women in its undergraduate student body, Kennedy said.

Neena Chaudhry, senior counsel with the National Women's Law Center, said she was happy to see that Duke had met the requirement.

At the time the complaint was filed, 34 percent of Duke's athletes were female. The percentage of scholarship money for women was only 27 percent.

The athletic department plans to add 34 scholarships for women, totaling $1 million, through Duke's $2 billion capital campaign.