NCAA eligibility requirements for junior college transfers Archives

We’ve had several calls from current and past clients about incorrect information being shared regarding junior college and NCAA playing eligibility rules.

We’ve also heard reports of travel ball organizations as well as athletic recruiting websites that are spreading the word that an athlete can compete for two years at the junior college level and then still have four years to play for an NCAA team.

At this time, this is NOT true.

The NCAA’s “blanket waiver” that was issued last December following the judge’s ruling in the Diego Pavia lawsuit ONLY applied to eligibility at the Division I level for this current 2025-26 academic year AND only for athletes who otherwise would have used their final season of eligibility during the 2024-25 year.

If you have questions about seasons of eligibility for your athlete, you can schedule a confidential Eligibility Consultation online, or you can contact us directly at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

We recently consulted with a student-athlete who transferred to an NCAA Division II university only to learn that she would not be academically eligible for competition even though she earned her Associates Degree at her junior college during the summer.

She thought that the completion of her Associates Degree at the two-year college was all that she needed to be eligible as a transfer and did not know that there are also multiple NCAA academic requirements that also need to be satisfied.

In this situation, this athlete wasn’t informed that she was also required to earn at least 9 credit hours of transferable degree credit during her last semester at the junior college. Because she didn’t have enough academic credit hours that were accepted as transfer credit, she wasn’t eligible to compete for the Division II university.

In fact, any NCAA Division II athlete – even a continuing student-athlete at their same university or one transferring from another four-year college – must earn at least 9 credit hours (or 8 hours if their college is on the quarter system) in the preceding term of full-time attendance to be eligible the following term. For a transfer athlete, those credit hours must be acceptable for transfer credit at the college the athlete is transferring to.

If you are have questions about your student-athlete’s situation, we can help.

Schedule a confidential Eligibility Consult online, call us at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com

Tag Archive for: NCAA eligibility requirements for junior college transfers

Junior College Misinformation Regarding NCAA Eligibility

Junior College Athletes – Make Sure You’re Eligible Before You Transfer to an NCAA University!

She thought that the completion of her Associates Degree at the two-year college was all that she needed to be eligible as a transfer and did not know that there are also multiple NCAA academic requirements that also need to be satisfied.

If you are have questions about your student-athlete’s situation, we can help.