Transferring to another school at any time of the year has its challenges. However, midyear transfers to a new university can be especially difficult because a student-athlete often has a short window of time to find a new school and then get enrolled for classes that start in January.
Before your student-athlete takes action, make sure they know where they stand and what options they have so they don’t make mistakes that could cause them to lose eligibility or add a financial burden to the family. As an example, an NCAA Division I student-athlete entering the Transfer Portal could possibly lose their scholarship at midyear.
If you or your athlete have questions about a transfer situation and want to know all of the steps and rules involved, schedule a confidential Transfer Consult session online, send and email to rick@informedathlete.com or call 913-766-1235.
Back in early June, we wrote about the number of college sports programs that were being eliminated across the country. Many of those programs were/are being dropped at least in part due to the financial impact of COVID-19 on colleges and athletic departments nationwide.
Adding my unofficial count to the 19 Division I programs that were previously announced, I’m now counting 59 or 60 programs from Division I. (My count isn’t exact, because a few programs have been reinstated.)
The hardest hit programs were tennis, with 13 men’s programs being dropped and 10 women’s programs. Swimming and diving saw 10 programs dropped (6 men’s and 4 women’s) and golf lost 8 programs (5 men’s and 3 women’s).
If they are a high school senior hoping to be recruited to a college program, or are a current college athlete considering a transfer from a two-year or four-year college to the Division I level, it means that there will be even more limited roster spots in certain sports.
This just compounds even more those roster problems for Spring sport athletes who have already been granted an additional year of eligibility due to 2020 spring sport seasons being cancelled.
We can assist by answering your questions, hearing your concerns, and discussing options to consider:
Schedule a confidential Eligibility Issues consult or a confidential Transfer consult online, or contact us directly at 913-766-1235 or via email at rick@informedathlete.com.
We’ve recently been contacted by several student-athletes who are considering transferring to another college after this Fall term.
In one case, the athlete is looking at a transfer from a two-year college to a four-year college, while the others were considering a transfer from one four-year college to another.
We can help by answering any questions you have and explaining the steps your athlete will need to follow for a transfer. We’ll also explain the academic requirements that he or she will need to satisfy to be eligible at their next university.
For athletes transferring from a junior college to a four-year college, we can also provide a Transcript Review and Assessment to review their junior college courses and advise on whether those courses and grades will satisfy the NCAA or NAIA transfer requirements.
If you would like to have a confidential discussion of the steps to follow for a transfer and the rules involved, schedule a Transfer Consult online. Or you can contact us by phone or email: 913-766-1235 or rick@informedathlete.com
It’s being reported that the NCAA Division I Council will vote soon on whether to move forward with a proposed One-Time Transfer Exception for ALL Division I student-athletes.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW: This action will not be a final vote but will introduce the rule change into the NCAA’s legislative cycle.
This new proposal includes a specific date by which an athlete will be required to notify their university that they intend to leave and play their sport at another school.
Although the timeline for the “final” vote is not certain, all signs point to a new rule taking effect for the 2021-22 academic year.
If your athlete is considering leaving their current school and would like to have a confidential discussion of the steps to follow and the rules involved, schedule a confidential Transfer Consult online or you can contact us by phone or email: 913-766-1235 or rick@informedathlete.com
If you are a student-athlete who is considering a transfer or is considering taking a term off from college (or the parent of one) and would like to have a complete understanding of the rules that will impact your specific situation, we can help. We will answer all your questions, discuss options and help you develop an action plan to move forward in these uncertain times.
Schedule a confidential Transfer Consult or Eligibility Consult online or you can contact us at 913-766-1235 or rick@informedathlete.com.
When an NCAA D1 student-athlete is considering a transfer to another D1 university, there are two key steps in the process.
Step 1:
Submit written notice to the compliance office at your current university that you want your name entered into the Transfer Portal. The Transfer Portal eliminates the need to first obtain permission from your university to speak with coaches at other programs. However, it is still best practice to inform your coach of your plans to transfer before notifying your compliance office.
Step 2:
The university you’re leaving may choose to object to your opportunity to be immediately eligible in your first year at the new university. Such an objection could force you to sit out from competition in your first year of attendance unless an appeal or waiver is granted by the NCAA.
There are a few different reasons that an athlete’s original university may object to the athlete being immediately eligible in their first year.
One reason can be when an athlete is following a former coach to a new job at another university.
Another primary reason is when the student-athlete’s GPA is under 2.60.
When a Division I scholarship athlete transfers,, the school’s team that they are transferring from will lose that athlete’s “retention point” for APR (Academic Progress Rate).
However:
To learn more about how the APR can affect an athlete’s transfer, here’s a link to an article on our website: https://informedathlete.com/how-the-academic-progress-rate-apr-can-affect-an-athletes-ncaa-transfer/
If your student-athlete is considering a transfer at this point in the year and their GPA is a concern, or if you have other transfer questions, we can discuss the athlete’s options and help develop a plan to navigate through the process.
Schedule a confidential Transfer Consult online, or contact us at 913-766-1235.
Now that the use of the NCAA Transfer Portal has been approved for Division II student-athletes (effective Aug. 1, 2020) neither Division I nor Division II student-athletes are required to obtain “permission” from their current coaching staff or university before they initiate their plan to transfer to another university.
For Division I student-athletes, their university is required to enter their name into the Transfer Portal within two business days of receiving written notification that the student-athlete is planning to transfer.
At the Division II level, athletic departments have up to 7 consecutive calendar days in which to enter a student-athlete’s name and contact info into the Transfer Portal (where that student-athlete can be “found” by coaches at other NCAA colleges.)
Don’t let your athlete be the one to make a mistake in the Transfer process and damage their eligibility. Schedule a confidential Transfer Consult online, contact us by phone at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com
Effective August 1, student-athletes at NCAA Division II programs will no longer need to ask for permission from their university to contact coaches at other colleges about a possible transfer.
It has been a somewhat common misconception that all NCAA student-athletes have been able to use the Transfer Portal and that they simply needed to notify their school that they want their name and info entered into the Portal to be able to speak with coaches at other colleges.
That will change for Division II student-athletes starting August 1 when the “notification of transfer rule” takes effect.
Once a Division II student-athlete provides their athletic department with written notification that they want to contact other coaches about a possible transfer, the university will be required to enter the student-athlete’s information into the Transfer Portal within seven calendar days.
This can happen immediately if notification is provided in the summer or between semesters. If notification is given during a semester, the scholarship can be cancelled at the end of that semester.
Schedule a confidential Transfer Consultation online, send an email to rick@informedathlete.com or give us a call at 913-766-1235.
That depends.
The final decision to transfer must be made by an athlete and family based on a number of factors. But we can help you to consider the pros and cons of a possible transfer by having a confidential discussion of the factors to consider.
Such factors/questions include:
Do you need assistance?
If you want to discuss your specific situation as it relates to these questions and the options your student-athlete can consider, schedule a confidential transfer consultation online or by calling us at 913-766-1235 or sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com
This is a player who was highly recruited by multiple “Power Five” programs and is on a large baseball scholarship.
The coaching staff coerced the athlete into submitting his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal even though he didn’t want to transfer. In an hour-long exit meeting where it was the player meeting with all three baseball coaches, they continually told him “you need to transfer” and “you won’t play here.”
