What Student-Athletes Should Consider BEORE Withdrawing From Classes!

A question that we often receive early in the school year is whether an athlete can withdraw from some or all of their classes without an eligibility “penalty.” Common reasons that an athlete might want to withdraw include second thoughts about their college choice, or due to an injury or illness.

If your athlete has already started attending their college classes this Fall as a full-time enrolled student, I hope you’ll keep the following in mind:

  • Withdrawing from just one class may not harm their eligibility if they will still be carrying a full-time course load. However, in most cases, withdrawing from all of their classes will negatively impact their eligibility now and also in the future at their current college or at a new college that they may transfer to.
  • Dropping a course later in the term to avoid a failing grade that will hurt the athlete’s GPA may be OK, but you should encourage them to finish the semester (or quarter) if possible, instead of withdrawing from their courses. If they withdraw from all courses, they’ll lose all their academic credits for this term which can impact future eligibility.

To discuss a potential withdrawal situation and how it could impact your athlete’s eligibility, schedule an Eligibility Consult online, e-mail rick@informedathlete.com or call our office at 913-766-1235.

/by
,

Potential Changes to NCAA DI Transfer Portal Windows and Mid-Year Transfer Eligibility

At their meeting in late June, the NCAA Division I Council introduced a proposal to reduce the Transfer Portal Windows at the end of each sport season from 60 days to 30 days.

  • This proposal was recommended because data gathered over the past year showed that most athletes enter the Transfer Portal in the early days of each Transfer Window.
  • Various Division I committees, including the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, will review the proposal and gather feedback from their constituents before a final vote is considered at the October meeting of the Council.

On another item regarding transfers, Softball athletes should be aware of a new Division I rule that goes into effect this year.

  • A softball athlete who transfers to a Division I university at midyear will NOT be allowed to be immediately eligible for the Spring season at their new university. The athlete will be allowed to practice with their new team but won’t be eligible for competition until the following Fall term.

If you would like confidential assistance navigating the steps and rule for a transfer to another college or university:

Schedule a Confidential Transfer Consultation online or you can contact us directly at rick@informedathlete.com or by calling 913-766-1235

/by

Confirm Your Eligibility Before You Transfer or Start Classes!

Every year in August or September after classes have started, we are contacted by college student-athletes who have been told that they won’t be eligible for competition. By then, it’s too late to consider other options that may be possible.

If you are transferring to a new college or enrolling as a freshman – especially if you are doing so as a non-recruited walk-on:

  • Contact the athletic compliance office to confirm that you have satisfied ALL of the academic requirements to be eligible for competition in your first year of attendance.

DON’T wait until the last minute, do this ASAP! Why?

  • Because staff members who are responsible for certifying athletes’ eligibility will likely be focusing more attention on those incoming athletes who have been actively recruited by the coaching staff as scholarship athletes or as “preferred walk-ons.”
  • If you have not satisfied the academic requirements to be eligible in your first year at that university, it may be too late to consider possible options (such as taking additional summer courses, postponing your enrollment or returning to junior college for one more semester.)

It’s very important to:

  • Know the academic requirements your athlete will need to satisfy to be eligible at their new university as a transfer or as an incoming freshman.
  • Get confirmation in writing from the school that your athlete has satisfied all requirements to be eligible.

Do You Need Help?

We can discuss your athlete’s current situation, explain the academic requirements for eligibility in a confidential Eligibility Issues consultation, and we can even review your athlete’s high school or junior college transcript to inform whether they are on track to satisfy the eligibility requirements. Schedule a confidential Eligibility Issues Consultation online, call us at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

/by
,

Does Your NCAA Student-Athlete Qualify for an Extension of the Five-Year Clock?

NCAA Division I

Student-athletes with NCAA Division I programs have two ways that they can potentially qualify for an Extension of Eligibility Waiver to have an additional year of eligibility added to their “five-year clock.”

  • If the athlete missed one season of competition due to a season-ending injury or illness, AND If they also missed one other season simply due to being redshirted by the coaching staff.
  • OR If the athlete missed two different seasons of competition due to a season-ending injury or illness.

The redshirt year can occur in any year of the athlete’s college enrollment as long as the athlete also missed a different season due to an injury, illness or other circumstance beyond their control (such as a death or serious illness in the family).

NCAA Division II

The information stated above for Division I is the same for Division II with one key difference.

That difference is that if the athlete is using a redshirt year as one of the two seasons that they are referring to in a request for an Extension Waiver, the redshirt year must have occurred in “…their initial year of full-time collegiate enrollment at any institution…”

Do You Need Professional, Objective Advice?

If you have questions about this type of waiver or any other waivers for additional years or for immediate eligibility, schedule a Waivers and Appeals Consult online or contact us directly at 913-766-1235 or rick@informedathlete.com.

/by

Student-Athletes: Confirm Your Eligibility Before You Transfer or Start Classes

After classes have started, we are frequently contacted by student-athletes who have been told that they are not eligible for competition. It’s then too late to consider other options that could have been possible.

If you are transferring, enrolling for the first time or coming in as a non-recruited walk-on, MAKE SURE you contact the compliance office of the college you are transferring to or enrolling in to confirm that you have satisfied ALL the academic requirements to be eligible for competition in your first year of attendance.

Staff members who are responsible for certifying athletes as eligible will most likely be focusing more attention on those incoming athletes who have been actively recruited by the coaching staff as scholarship athletes or as “preferred walk-ons.”

It’s important to do this BEFORE you begin full-time enrollment at the university when it will be too late to consider possible options (such as taking additional summer courses, postponing your enrollment or returning to junior college for one more semester).

Do You Have Questions?

We can explain the academic requirements for eligibility in a confidential Eligibility Issues consultation, and we can also review your athlete’s high school or junior college transcript to inform whether they are on track to satisfy the eligibility requirements. Contact us at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

/by

Can Student-Athletes Opt-Out to Preserve a Redshirt Year?

I’ve had several separate inquiries within the past two weeks in which an athlete or parent asked about “opting out” this Spring to preserve the athlete’s redshirt season in their sport.

These athletes/parents wanted to know if they could simply choose to tell their coach that they wanted to opt out from their current season to preserve a redshirt year and to also protect their scholarship.

While it was possible two years ago for an athlete to opt out, that is not the case anymore.

If an athlete is hoping to preserve their current season as a redshirt season, they will need to talk with their coach to determine if he/she will allow them to redshirt.

Before talking to your coach, consider this:

In most sports, NCAA Division I and II student-athletes who participate in a contest for just one minute, one play or one match or set, will trigger the use of one of their four seasons of competition.

In addition, student-athletes thinking about redshirting should think carefully about whether they want to bring up the topic with their coach. That can be a difficult decision to make.

  • On the one hand, if an athlete doesn’t bring up the topic of redshirting with their coach and then end the season having only participated in very limited minutes, innings or other amount of competition, they may regret the decision to not bring it up.
  • On the other hand, some coaches might become angry at an athlete’s request to redshirt and end up removing the athlete from the team completely.

If you’re interested in a confidential consultation about the possibility of redshirting and the potential impact on your scholarship and future eligibility, schedule a confidential Eligibility Issues Consultation online, or by calling 913-766-1235.

/by
,

Will Your High School Athlete be Eligible for NCAA Sports?

Three families contacted us recently because they had just found out that their college freshman athlete isn’t eligible because they didn’t earn 16 “core courses” in high school.

In one case, the athlete was ready to compete for his university but was told just as his season was starting that he wouldn’t be eligible this season.

For another athlete who was planning to transfer to an NCAA university this Spring from an NAIA college, he was told that he will need to attend another semester of college before being able to transfer to the NCAA university.

In each of these cases, the athlete had believed or been led to believe that one or more of their high school courses would qualify for NCAA eligibility. Unfortunately, those courses were not approved by the NCAA or hadn’t even been submitted to the NCAA for consideration by their high school.

While many high school coaches and guidance counselors do a good job of advising their athletes about college academic and athletic opportunities, we frequently hear about high school athletes who “fell through the cracks.”

In those situations, it’s common to hear that the coaches thought that advising on NCAA eligibility was the responsibility of the high school guidance office, while the guidance counselors thought it was the coach’s responsibility because the student was a member of their athletic team.

If you’re the parent, relative or coach of a high school athlete who wants to compete in college, don’t let them be the victim of a situation as described above. Schedule a confidential High School Transcript Review online or by calling 913-766-1235.

/by
,

Should High School Recruits Consider a Gap Year Because of Overloaded College Rosters?

It has become more common over the last two years for high school recruits to take a gap year after graduation to continue training in their sport while taking college courses to get a start toward their college degree. The primary reason for this has been college rosters being overloaded with athletes who were granted an additional year of eligibility.

Is this still something that high school recruits should consider? In my opinion, yes!

Almost all college athletes were granted an additional year on their eligibility “clock” and were not charged with one of their four seasons of playing eligibility during the year 2020.

This was applicable to Spring sport athletes during the 2019-20 academic year and for Fall and Winter sport athletes during the 2020-21 academic year. In addition, many junior college and NCAA Division III athletes in Spring sports were also not charged a season for Spring 2021.

That is FIVE YEARS of college athletes who were given an additional year on their eligibility clock – from athletes who were already in their 5th year of college at that time, to athletes who were only college freshmen then and who now have an eligibility clock that might not expire until the end of the 2025-26 academic year.

If you’d like to have a confidential consultation about the possibility of a gap year for your athlete and factors that you may want to take into consideration, schedule a confidential Eligibility Issues Consultation online, or by writing to rick@informedathlete.com.

/by
, , ,

Summary of 2023 NCAA Convention Rule Changes

The annual NCAA Convention was recently held in San Antonio The following is a summary of the official rule changes or resolutions in each Division that will have the most direct impact on student-athletes.

NCAA Division I Changes

Transfer Waiver Guidelines Change For 4-4-4 transfer athletes who transfer a second time to a Division I university as an undergraduate:

When an athlete transfers to their third university (4-4-4 transfer) and wants to be eligible in their first year, they can no longer use the following arguments in a waiver application:

  • No Participation Opportunity
  • Financial Hardship
  • Misinformation From a Staff Member

The NCAA Division I Council voted unanimously that going forward, each waiver request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

One of the following criteria must be satisfied to receive a waiver:

  • A demonstrated physical injury or illness or mental health condition that necessitated the student’s transfer (supporting documentation, care plans and proximity of the student’s support system will be considered), or
  • Exigent circumstances that clearly necessitate a student-athlete’s immediate departure from the previous school (e.g., physical assault or abuse, sexual assault) unrelated to the student-athlete’s athletics participation.”

Transfer Exceptions are not the same as Transfer Waivers and will still be available.

The most common Transfer Exception for a 4-4-4 transfer to be eligible in their first year at a Division I university is the Non-Scholarship or Non-Recruited Transfer Exception.

Student-athletes who qualify to use one of the Transfer Exceptions (other than the One-Time Transfer Exception), will now be allowed to enter the Transfer Portal at any time instead of having to wait for the Transfer Portal schedule for their sport.

Softball Athletes – Midyear Transfer Rule Change

A midyear transfer to a Division I softball program – whether from a two-year or four-year college – will no longer be immediately eligible in their first softball season unless they are transferring as a postgraduate student.

This rule takes effect on August 1 of this year and will impact the 2024 softball season.

NCAA Division II

Effective August 1, 2023, NCAA Division II Football student-athletes will be allowed to participate in up to three games during their initial year of enrollment at a Division II institution without being charged with one of their four seasons of playing eligibility.

In addition, Division II football teams will be permitted to scrimmage against another four-year college team as one of the three permissible scrimmage sessions that are allowed during Spring practice.

Student-athletes participating in this scrimmage will not trigger the use of a season of playing eligibility AS LONG AS the athlete was academically eligible during the preceding Fall term.

NCAA Division III

A resolution was approved (but not an actual rule change at this time) directing Division III governing committees to work with member schools and conferences to “…establish a hardship waiver process specific for mental health…”

The intention of this resolution is to establish a hardship waiver process for Mental Health that is separate from that of a Physical Injury Waiver.

The formal resolution also noted that the requirement for a Mental Health Hardship Waiver should allow for appropriate flexibility in supporting documentation since individuals “…suffering with a mental health condition often do not seek immediate support.”

Do You Have Questions?

If you have questions about these changes or any other questions about specific issues that impact you or your athlete regarding college athletics eligibility, scholarships, waivers or transfers, we invite you to schedule a confidential consult by calling us at 913-766-1235 or sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

/by
, ,

How Can College Athletes Transfer Multiple Times With No Issues?

That’s a question I’m frequently asked. It can be surprising how many times some athletes transfer from one school to another.

When an athlete can’t use the One-Time Transfer Exception to be immediately eligible at a new school, how are they able to be eligible as a multiple time transfer?

While we don’t know the specific circumstances of each athlete’s situation that you might hear or read about, here are some possible explanations as to how they may be able to transfer multiple times and not be required to serve a “year in residence” at their new university.

  • Second transfer could be the use of the Non-Scholarship Transfer Exception.
  • Second (or third) transfer could be using the “No Participation Opportunity” Waiver to be eligible at the next college.
  • 2nd or 3rd transfer could be transferring as a grad student and getting a waiver to be eligible as a grad transfer if they are pursuing a degree that wasn’t offered at their previous college.
  • Any of the above could also have been a possible option AFTER a 4-2-4 transfer from the first four-year college to a JUCO then back to another four-year college and then possibly using any of the options listed above.

Do You Need Advice?

If your athlete is thinking about a transfer, whether from one four-year college to another or from a junior college, we can provide a confidential consultation to explain the steps, rules and academic requirements to be eligible at the new college. Schedule a confidential Transfer Consultation online, contact us at rick@informedathlete.com or call our office at 913-766-1235.

/by