The Division I Board of Directors on Wednesday charged NCAA staff and committees to review existing transfer rules and waiver guidelines and consider potential modifications to improve the efficiency of the waiver process, including increasing, where possible, objectivity of criteria. Any such modifications would be applied for any student-athletes seeking immediate eligibility for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Division I Board of Directors on Wednesday charged NCAA staff and committees to review existing transfer rules and waiver guidelines and consider potential modifications to improve the efficiency of the waiver process, including increasing, where possible, objectivity of criteria. Any such modifications would be applied for any student-athletes seeking immediate eligibility for the 2024-25 academic year.
Consistent with the adoption of the revised transfer waiver guidelines and the creation of the Transfer Advisory Panel, the board's discussion is part of an ongoing commitment to continually review transfer data and rules. As part of its discussion, the board reviewed the latest data on transfers broadly, including a discussion about the number of transfer waivers requested and the outcomes of those cases so far during the current academic year. It was noted that schools continue to submit waiver requests for the current school year, including for winter sports, especially basketball.
"The Division I board continues to affirm that NCAA staff and the Committee for Legislative Relief are applying existing transfer waiver guidelines as intended by members," said Jere Morehead, chair of the Division I Board of Directors and president of the University of Georgia. "We continue to view student-athlete well-being and mental health as a priority for the Association and will continue to look at whether those priorities can be addressed more objectively and be better understood by members of the media and public."If adopted during the 2023-24 academic year, any changes to the guidelines would apply for all student-athletes — including midyear transfers — seeking eligibility for the 2024-25 academic year following a second (or subsequent) transfer. The board emphasized that all student-athletes seeking waivers for immediate eligibility to compete in the same cohort should be evaluated under the same transfer waiver criteria, regardless of the timing of their transfer decision.
The board also urged any member schools planning to request transfer waivers for winter or spring sports for the current academic year to submit those requests as soon as possible, noting that NCAA staff should appropriately evaluate all waiver cases and not rush the processing timeline for decisions due to last-minute submissions.
"The Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is concerned about student-athletes whose waiver requests have not yet been submitted by their schools as their competition seasons approach," said Cody Shimp, chair of Division I SAAC. "Out of fairness to student-athletes currently awaiting a decision, we encourage all schools to submit requests with urgency to provide clarity for those student-athletes as soon as possible."
A preliminary report on transfer topics is expected to be delivered to the board at the NCAA Convention in January, with anticipated recommendations to be considered in April.
