University of Colorado chancellor Phil Distefano announced Sunday that the institution will be updating its transfer credit review process, making it easier for students to transfer to the campus in Boulder.
The announcement came on the same day that Colorado introduced its new head football coach — Deion Sanders — and many believe that hire had as much to do with the transfer policy change as anything.
"We're working to give coach and all of his student-athletes the skills they need to succeed," Distefano said. "This new initiative combined with the NIL collective and our existing resources for student-athletes will set our football team up for long term success."
As reported by Michael Abetya of CBS Colorado, other schools have a physical education or general education program that students can transfer into, but not CU. Under the old policy, prospective student-athletes eyeing a move to Boulder could only transfer if enough of their credits were accepted toward a degree at CU or if the student makes up credits before they begin playing their sport.
As recently as two months ago, when CU fired former head football coach Karl Dorrell, Distefano said CU likely wouldn't change its policy to attract more athletes. "It's just based upon the degrees we offer," he said during an October press conference, as reported by CBS Colorado. "We do not have physical education here, and we do not have general education, and to be honest, that's not going to change."
Now, the school is implementing a program that will provide an expedited assessment of transferability of academic credits from other institutions to be accepted at Colorado.
This is significant, given the high volume of traffic being witnessed in the two-year-old transfer portal, allowing schools to more easily build rosters by means beyond traditional recruiting of high school talent since college student-athletes can now switch schools immediately with no impact on their playing eligibility. Before the portal was created, transferring athletes had to sit out for one year. Now they can play right away, but a certain percentage of their transfer credits must go toward a degree at their new school, CBS Colorado reported.
