The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced Wednesday, Aug. 31, that it has made changes to the transfer rules for student-athletes to be able to receive fi nancial aid at their next school, continuing until graduation without interruption.
Adjustments made to the transfer rules by the Division I Transfor-mation Committee will provide clarity for all student-athletes and the member schools in the transfer landscape across all sports. The changes to the transfer portal rules will be implemented immediately.
According to the NCAA, the new rules for the transfer portal will require that the schools consider athletics when they begin awarding scholarships to transfer student athletes in order to provide scholarships to the students for the five-year eligibility period or until they complete the requirements for their bachelor’s degree.
Athletes in all sports can continue to be eligible the first time they transfer if they notify their school in writing during the notification-of-transfer window determined by their sport. According to the NCAA, the board has also adopted more specifi c standards for immediate eligibility waivers for student-athletes who do not meet the one-time transfer exception.
The new notification-of-transfer window is as follows:
The 45-day window begins the day aft er championship selections are made in their respective sport, or May 1-15 for fall sports; accommodations will be made for those who are participants of the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision Championship games. A 60-day window for winter sports begins the day aft er championship selections are made. Dec. 1-15 or a 45-day window for spring sports begins the day aft er selections are made for the sport. There are also exceptions to the new windows for student-athletes who experience head coach changes or have their athletic aid reduced, canceled or not renewed.
Immediate eligibility waiver for student-athletes who do not meet the one-time transfer exception have more specific standards. These focus on the student-athletes’ well-being or any circumstances that are outside of the student-athletes’ control.
There are no current transfer rules that will allow student-athletes to transfer multiple times and be immediately eligible if they meet the degree requirements at their new school. The board has opted to not enact these exceptions.
The NCAA has recently instructed that college football programs remove any names of student-athletes who entered the transfer portal since the new transfer portal window was implemented Aug. 31. Schools have also been informed not to contact any student-athletes that have entered the transfer portal during that period.
According to ESPN, athletes were still entering the transfer portal. This is a process that requires the school’s compliance offi ce to officially enter the athlete’s name in the portal. Athletes must enter the transfer portal during the window of their sport but are not required to transfer to their transfer school during the window.
Once student-athletes are entered in the portal, they may meet with coaches at other schools and transfer at any time. According to ESPN, if a head coach is fired during the season, student-athletes on the team have a 30-day window from the time the coach is fi red to be allowed to enter the portal no matter the transfer portal.
All information courtesy of the NCAA and ESPN.
Katrina Villarreal is a staff reporter and may be reached at [email protected].
