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NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement

Student-Athlete Reinstatement is part of the NCAA’s governance and membership services department. The staff processes violations and waivers that directly affect the eligibility of prospective student-athletes and enrolled student-athletes. When a school discovers an NCAA rules violation, it must declare the prospective or enrolled student-athlete ineligible and may request reinstatement through Requests/Self-Reports Online.

What is Student-Athlete Reinstatement?

Student-Athlete Reinstatement reviews each reinstatement request individually based on the specific facts and merits of the case. The staff follows a students-first philosophy, considering the student-athlete and the broader student-athlete body in each decision. When reviewing a violation, the goal is to place the student-athlete back in the position they would have been in before the violation occurred, based on the totality of the circumstances.

Submit a Reinstatement Request Through RSRO

Institutions submit student-athlete reinstatement requests through Requests/Self-Reports Online.

Steps:

  1. Select My Apps from the menu.
  2. Select Requests/Self-Reports Online.
  3. Select Request or Self-Report.
  4. Choose the appropriate request type from the drop-down menu.

If RSRO does not appear under My Apps, contact the institution’s Single-Source Sign-On administrator to have the application added. Questions or issues with SAR requests should be sent to rsro@ncaa.org and should include the case number.

Before You Submit

After an institution determines that a violation has occurred, it should determine whether the violation affects the eligibility of a prospective or enrolled student-athlete. If eligibility is affected, the institution must declare the prospective or enrolled student-athlete ineligible and decide whether to request reinstatement.

Before submitting through RSRO, all interpretive issues and disputes of fact must be resolved. All information related to the request must be uploaded to RSRO. Information marked as “to be faxed” will make the request incomplete until all faxes are received and uploaded. Faxes must be sent individually to 317-917-6736, which may delay case processing.

Once all necessary and relevant information is received, the student-athlete reinstatement staff will issue a decision. An institution may appeal the decision to the NCAA Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement through the withdraw/reconsideration/appeal tab in RSRO within 30 calendar days from the time the decision is sent. After 30 calendar days, the case is automatically closed.

Division Resources

Division I

NCAA Division I Board of Directors Waiver Guidance for 2025-26 Eligibility Question and Answer Document

On December 23, 2024, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a waiver to permit student-athletes who attended and competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years to remain eligible to compete in 2025-26 if those student-athletes would have otherwise used their final season of competition during the 2024-25 academic year and meet all other eligibility requirements (e.g., progress toward degree, five-year period of eligibility).

This question-and-answer document is designed to assist the NCAA membership in understanding the scope of the waiver.

Hardship Waiver Resources

For injuries or illnesses occurring on or after August 1, 2022:
For injuries or illnesses that occurred prior to August 1, 2022:

The following worksheets are a required component of hardship waiver requests and/or appeals submitted to the reinstatement staff through Requests/Self-Reports Online (RSRO) for injuries or illnesses that occurred prior to August 1, 2022. Individual conference offices have discretion regarding whether the worksheets are required for hardship waivers reviewed at the conference level.

Questions regarding application of the hardship waiver legislation should be submitted as an interpretive request through RSRO. Questions regarding use of the worksheets should be directed to the student-athlete reinstatement staff.

Season of Competition and Extension of Eligibility

Transfer Injunction Self-Applied Relief for Extension of Eligibility

Consistent with May 2024, consent judgment and permanent injunction, NCAA Division I institutions may self-apply a one-year extension of eligibility waiver for Division I student-athletes who were required to fulfill a transfer year of residence during the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, or 2023-24 academic years provided the student-athlete:

  1. Transferred between two four-year institutions more than once;
  2. Is currently enrolled at a Division I institution; and
  3. Is currently otherwise eligible to compete, or their eligibility expired during the 2023-24 academic year.

Institutions should document all self-applied relief so there is a record of such self-application; however, institutions are not required to report self-application to the NCAA staff. Extension-of-eligibility waivers apply on a sport-by-sport basis and must be used at the first available opportunity (i.e., immediately after the student-athlete’s five-year period of eligibility expires). Therefore, student-athletes may only use the self-applied extension in the sport they were deemed ineligible to compete in during or since the 2019-20 academic year.

Division II

Division III

Repayment Plans

A repayment plan is a good-faith agreement between the institution and the student-athlete. The institution is responsible for monitoring all payments associated with an approved repayment plan. Payment may be spread throughout the duration of the student-athlete’s eligibility, but must be completed before the student-athlete’s last regular-season date of competition or contest.

Repayment plans should include:

  • A repayment schedule with payment dates and amounts.
  • Language explaining eligibility consequences if the student-athlete is not current with the repayment schedule.
  • Language acknowledging that if the student-athlete defaults, the institution will be prohibited from entering into a repayment plan with any student-athlete for four years.
  • Signatures and dates from both the student-athlete and an institutional representative.
  • Verification of all payments kept on file at the institution.

Once the final payment is made, the institution should forward all repayment documentation to student-athlete reinstatement staff. After the staff verifies completion, a letter will be sent to the institution confirming the plan has been satisfied.

Missed payments

If a student-athlete misses a payment, the student-athlete is not current with the repayment plan and is ineligible until they become current. If the student-athlete competes while not current with an approved repayment plan, the institution is in violation of NCAA rules and must report the violation to student-athlete reinstatement staff and NCAA secondary enforcement staff. The student-athlete’s eligibility must be reinstated before competing.

Defaulting on a repayment plan

Default occurs if, at the end of the plan, all payments have not been received by the institution and forwarded to student-athlete reinstatement staff. Defaulting on a repayment plan will result in student-athlete reinstatement staff not entering into repayment plans with that institution for four years.

Reinstatement After a Positive NCAA Drug Test

This section explains the reinstatement process for a student-athlete who tests positive through the NCAA year-round drug-testing program or championship drug-testing program. A student-athlete must be declared immediately ineligible after testing positive in conjunction with those programs.

For NCAA drug tests administered on or after Aug. 1, 2016, eligibility does not need to be restored by the Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee after the student-athlete has fulfilled the drug-testing penalty and tested negative in accordance with NCAA-authorized testing methods.

Exit testing

The institution must schedule an exit test with the National Center for Drug Free Sport by calling 816-474-8655.

  • For substances in a banned drug class other than “street drugs,” the mandatory exit test may occur no sooner than the 11th month of the minimum one-year period of ineligibility.
  • For “street drugs,” the mandatory exit test may occur no sooner than six weeks from the end of the minimum 50 percent of a season of eligibility.

The NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff will receive exit test results from Drug Free Sport. The institution must then submit a reinstatement request through RSRO using “Ineligibility for Use of Banned Drugs” as the sub-case type.

Application of Banned Substance Reinstatement Rules

For a substance in a banned drug class other than “street drugs,” the student-athlete is charged with the loss of one season of competition in all sports, in addition to the use of a season if the student-athlete participated in intercollegiate competition during the same year. The student-athlete remains ineligible for regular-season and postseason competition for 365 days after the positive test specimen was collected, until the student-athlete tests negative and eligibility is restored.

Requests for reinstatement for substances other than “street drugs” will not be considered until the student-athlete has been ineligible for at least 365 days, has been withheld from the equivalent of an NCAA season, retests negative through the NCAA and the institution submits a request through RSRO.

For “street drugs,” the student-athlete is charged with the loss of competition during a minimum of 50 percent of a season in all sports. The student-athlete remains ineligible until the penalty is fulfilled, the student-athlete tests negative and eligibility is restored.

Additional positive tests

If a student-athlete tests positive for any banned drug other than a “street drug” after previously testing positive for any banned drug other than a “street drug,” the student-athlete loses all remaining regular-season and postseason eligibility in all sports.

If a student-athlete tests positive for a “street drug” after previously testing positive for a “street drug,” the student-athlete is charged with the loss of a minimum of one additional season of competition in all sports and remains ineligible for regular-season and postseason competition for 365 days after the positive test specimen was collected.

Transfers After a Positive Drug Test

If a student-athlete transfers to another NCAA institution while ineligible under the NCAA banned-substance bylaws, the institution from which the student-athlete transferred must notify the new institution that the student-athlete is ineligible.

If the student-athlete immediately transfers to a non-NCAA institution while ineligible and competes during the prescribed penalty period, the student-athlete will be ineligible for all NCAA regular-season and postseason competition until the student-athlete does not compete in intercollegiate competition for the full penalty period. The student-athlete must also retest negative and request reinstatement by the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement.

Student-Athlete Reinstatement Resources

General Information

Policies and Procedures

Guidelines for Case Analysis

Pre-Enrollment Amateurism Guidelines