On Twitter last week, Bryan Fischer, an Athlon Sports Writer and Editor, tweeted that “…NCAA is moving forward with one-time transfers. D1 Council will vote on a waiver to allow one-time transfers for the upcoming year (2021-22) at their April meeting after the Final Four.”
Let’s assume that Mr. Fischer’s info is accurate. This will not actually be a legislative change to the Division I One-Time Transfer rule but will instead be a waiver that will apply only for this upcoming academic year.
While I have not yet seen anything reported about this on the NCAA website or on their social media accounts, I believe that the following conditions will apply for the waiver to be approved:
- An athlete will only be able to use this waiver on their first transfer from any four-year college and will obviously need to have eligibility remaining.
- The athlete will need to be academically eligible upon departure from the previous university. That university will need to be able to state that the athlete would be eligible for competition if the athlete was staying at or returning to that university for the upcoming semester or academic year.
- The Division I university to which an athlete transfers from another four-year university will likely be allowed to automatically approve this waiver as long as the athlete satisfies the conditions listed above and satisfies the academic requirements to be eligible (including meeting the “progress-toward-degree” requirements) at the new university.
For a discussion of this One-Time Transfer waiver, schedule a confidential Transfer Consult to review the transfer rules and academic requirements that will apply to your student-athlete. You can also contact us by sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com or by calling 913-766-1235.
