Transfer Rules Q: How do I contact another institution about transferring? A student-athlete (or his or her parents) may not be contacted by another institution's athletics department staff member without first obtaining written permission from the student-athlete's current athletics director. This written permission usually is sent directly to the other institution, and is not given to the student-athlete. However, a student-athlete may write a letter to another institution expressing his or her interest in transferring. The original institution must provide the student-athlete with the opportunity for a hearing before a committee outside the athletics department (e.g., office of student affairs) if written permission to contact the second institution is not granted. The other institution shall not encourage the student-athlete to transfer, and may not provide the studentathlete with financial aid until he or she has attended the institution for one academic year if the release is not granted. Q: If I transfer to another four-year institution, will I immediately be eligible? The general rule for all student-athletes transferring from one four-year institution to another four-year institution is that they must spend one academic year in residence at the school to which they transfer before they may be eligible for competition. However, you may be eligible immediately upon transfer if you meet one of several transfer exceptions. [Note: During a student-athlete's initial year of collegiate enrollment, he or she only may use a transfer exception if they have been certified by the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse as a qualifier.] The most common transfer exception is the One-Time Transfer Exception. To be eligible to use this exception: a. A student-athlete must be transferring to another four-year institution to participate in sports other than Division I basketball, Division I men's ice hockey and Division I football (unless the student-athlete is transferring from Division I- A to Division I-AA); b. The student-athlete's first transfer from one four-year college to another four-year college; c. The student-athlete must have been eligible academically had he or she remained at their previous institution; d. The student-athlete must obtain a written release from the current institution stating that they have no objection to the student-athlete's use of the exception. [Note: Student-athletes transferring from an NCAA Division III institution using this exception may not receive athletically related financial aid during their first academic year in residence on transfer.]
Q: If my coach leaves, can I transfer and immediately be eligible? No. Contrary to popular belief, the departure of a coaching staff member does not grant a student-athlete relief from the residence requirement on transferring. However, there is a transfer exception for student-athletes transferring from institutions that discontinue a sport, never sponsored the sport while the student-athlete was in attendance, or reclassified the sport from NCAA Division I to Division III. There also are other transfer exceptions (e.g., non-recruited student exception, return to original institution without participation exception, two-year nonparticipation exception, military service/church mission exception, etc.) that student-athletes may qualify for and should consult their institution's compliance coordinator or call the NCAA membership services staff for more information. Q: If I ask for a release to transfer, will my scholarship be taken away immediately? During the term of a student-athlete's financial aid award (usually the academic year), an institution may not reduce or cancel a student-athlete's financial aid simply because he or she asked for a written release to transfer. Institutional aid only may be reduced or cancelled during the term of the award if the student-athlete becomes ineligible for intercollegiate competition, provides fraudulent information on any applications or letters of intent, engages in serious misconduct that warrants disciplinary penalty by the institution's regular disciplinary authority (e.g., not the head coach) or voluntarily withdraws from the team. Q: Can I transfer to a two-year college for a semester/quarter then transfer to a four-year college and be immediately eligible? No. As a "4-2-4" transfer, a student-athlete must make a certain amount of academic progress while at the two-year college to be eligible on transferring to the second fouryear college. The student-athlete must earn 24 semeter/36 quarter hours of credit (with a 2.000 grade-point average) at the two-year college that may be transferred to a degree at the four-year college. One calendar year must pass since the student-athlete left the first four-year college before the student-athlete competes at the second four-year college. The student-athlete also must graduate from the two-year college. Please note that there are some exceptions to this transfer regulation that a student-athlete may qualify for and should consult their institution's compliance coordinator of call the NCAA membership services staff for more information.
Q: Can I transfer to a Division III institution and immediately be eligible to compete? A student-athlete immediately will be eligible to compete if he or she transfers to a Division III institution without ever previously participating (e.g., practice or competition) in intercollegiate athletics. A student-athlete must have been academically and athletically eligible had they remained at the previous four-year institution if the student-athlete ever participated in intercollegiate athletics. As a "4-2-4" transfer to a Division III institution, a student-athlete must have been academically and athletically eligible had he or she remained at the previous four-year college, or he or she must have earned 24 semester/36 quarter hours while enrolled full-time at a two-year college for two semesters/three quarters. Q: Can I enroll at another institution part-time without it being considered a transfer? Generally, a student-athlete only enrolled in a part-time program of studies will not be considered a transfer student. However, the student-athlete will have triggered transfer if he or she enrolls full-time and attends just one class as a full-time student (even if he or she later drops down to part-time status). A student-athlete also will be considered a transfer student if he or she practices or competes at an institution or receives institutional financial aid during the academic year or summer. Q: Can I transfer midyear and compete at the next institution? In NCAA Division I, a student-athlete who receives a transfer exception to the residence requirement and transfers midyear is not eligible to compete during the segment that concludes with the NCAA championship at the next institution if he or she competed during that same segment during the same academic year at the previous four-year institution. Q: What should a student-athlete do if it appears that some of these rules are being violated? In the event that there appears to be actions contrary to the aforementioned information, a student-athlete should inform an athletics department administrator. A student-athlete may wish to contact his or her institution's athletics director, associate athletics director, senior woman administrator, compliance coordinator or faculty athletics representative for assistance. A student-athlete also may call the NCAA membership services at 317/917-6222 if he or she needs clarification on any NCAA regulations.
Playing and Practice Limitations (NCAA Bylaw 17) It is not uncommon for student-athletes, dripping with sweat and muscles aching, to think to themselves during practice: "How long can coach keep us out here?" Well, hopefully, the information provided below can serve as a resource to student-athletes who simply want to know how much and how long they can practice and/or compete on a given day, week, or season. Q: What activities are considered practice? The term used to describe NCAA playing and practice limitations is "countable athletically related activities". Countable athletically related activities include, but are not limited to, practice (everything from chalk-talk to on-field activities), competition, required training activities (running, lifting weights, etc.), or any use of your school's athletics facilities at the direction of or under the supervision of a coach. Activities that are not considered practice include, but are not limited to, study hall, fundraising, community services, academic meetings, training room activities, and meetings with coaches that are of a non-athletic nature. Q: How long is the playing season? The playing (i.e., practice and competition) season for a particular sport is the period of time between the team's first officially recognized practice session and the last practice session or competition, whichever occurs later. Some sports (other than football, basketball and some winter sports) may have their seasons separated into two distinct segments. An example of this occurs when teams participate in their nontraditional season during the fall. The nontraditional season is then concluded and resumed later in the spring with the traditional season, which is concluded with the NCAA Championship for that particular sport. Further, all institutions must determine when their playing seasons will occur before the season begins, and this information must be in writing and kept on file in the athletics department. Q: How many hours can a student-athlete be required to practice/compete? In Divisions I and II, student-athletes are limited to practicing no more than four (4) hours per day and no more than 20 hours per week during the playing season. However, there are exceptions to these limitations for multi-sport and golf student-athletes. Outside of the playing season, student-athletes are limited to no more than eight (8) hours per week of certain countable athletically related activities. Those activities may only be required conditioning, physical-fitness classes, and individual skill-related instruction. Further, only two (2) of the eight hours may be spent in individual skill instruction with a coach. Please note, student-athletes may not be required to participate in any countable athletically related activities during any of their school's vacation periods (e.g., summer) that occur outside of the playing and practice season.
Q: How are the limitations calculated? A "day" is defined as a calendar day (i.e., 12:01 a.m. to midnight). However, any activities on the day of a competition count as three hours, regardless of how long. Nevertheless, practice may not be conducted at any time after competition, except for between contests during a multi-event competition (e.g., double-headers, rounds of golf). A "week" is defined as any seven consecutive days to be determined by the institution. Q: Are student-athletes supposed to get a day off? Yes. During the playing season, all countable athletically related activities are prohibited during one calendar day per week. However, a travel day can count as a day off, as well as a day that competition is canceled before it begins, and a vacation day can also be used. Further, student-athletes do not get a required day off per week during post season championships or bowl games, during preseason practice, or during institutionally designated periods when classes are not in session. Q: Can we miss classes to practice? No. No class time may be missed for practice activities, except when a team is traveling to an away-from-home contest and the practice is in conjunction with the contest. Q: What should student-athletes do if there appears to be a violation of these rules? In the event that there appear to be actions contrary to the aforementioned information, a student-athlete should inform an athletics department staff member. Generally, the institution's compliance coordinator is a helpful point of contact. A student-athlete is also at liberty to call the NCAA Membership Services staff at 317-917-6222 if he or she needs clarification on any NCAA regulations.