All Division I student-athletes will have a one-time opportunity to transfer and compete immediately beginning in the 2021-22 academic year, if legislation adopted
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->The Council expanded the one-time transfer exception to all sports, which means student-athletes who play baseball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s ice hockey have the same chance as all other student-athletes to transfer and play right away. If ratified by the board, the change is effective for student-athletes who have not transferred before and want to compete at a new school as early as this fall. <-
-> Members also adopted deadlines for student-athletes to provide written notification of transfer if they want to compete immediately. The deadlines will be May 1 for fall and winter sport student-athletes and July 1 for spring sport student-athletes, but the Council also granted a blanket waiver for this year only that sets the date for all student-athletes as July 1. Members noted the May 1 deadline was just a month away, and the waiver would provide students additional time they might need to decide.
The dates were selected based on a desire to balance providing flexibility for student-athletes to make informed transfer decisions with protecting the interests of students who don’t transfer but will be impacted by those who do.
Some exceptions to the deadlines would apply in cases of a head coaching change or canceled athletics scholarship before July 1.
Transferring college athletes also must meet progress-toward-degree requirements and be otherwise academically eligible to compete immediately after transfer, and both the head coach at the new school and the student-athlete must certify that no tampering took place. Schools cannot object to schools to which a student-athlete wants to transfer. The waiver process will continue to be available for students who do not meet the criteria of the one-time transfer exception or who wish to transfer more than once. <-
NCAA Division I One-Time Transfer FAQs