Student-athletes who will enroll at another school after graduating are now allowed to enter the Transfer Portal at any time, the Division I Council decided during its virtual meeting Wednesday.
On Aug. 31, the Division I Board of Directors adopted new transfer rules — effective immediately — that required student-athletes to enter the Transfer Portal during sport-specific transfer windows.
After today's Council action, student-athletes who plan to compete the following year as postgraduate students are exempt from those windows. Today's action does not exempt the students from implications associated with the decision to enter the Transfer Portal, including the reduction or cancellation of athletics financial aid for their next academic term.
"The college application process occurs earlier in the year for graduate students, and today's vote provides immediate relief for college students who are interested in pursuing graduate programs at other schools next year while competing in their given sports," said Lynda Tealer, vice chair of the Division I Council and executive associate athletics director at Florida. "The Council will continue to evaluate this issue and consider more permanent modifications to rules related to postgraduate participation."
Postgraduate students will be subject to deadlines to enter the Transfer Portal:
- Fall and winter sports: May 1.
- Spring sports: July 1.
The postgraduate transfer rules approved today are effective immediately. The Council will continue to discuss the application of rules to postgraduate students.
FBS scheduling requirements — FCS opponents
The Council also adopted a proposal recommended by the Football Oversight Committee that requires Football Championship Subdivision programs facing Football Bowl Subdivision teams during the regular season to provide 90% of the maximum allowable scholarships in football (over a two-year rolling period) in order for the game to be counted by that FBS program toward requirements for bowl eligibility. To provide flexibility during the pandemic, the requirement for total scholarships provided by FCS programs had been reduced to 80% in order for the game to count toward an FBS opponent's bowl eligibility.
The proposal was submitted in August by the Football Oversight Committee after a request earlier this year from FBS conference commissioners to review bowl eligibility scheduling requirements. The return to the 90% threshold aligns NCAA scheduling requirements for bowl game eligibility with the minimum scholarship requirements FCS teams must meet to receive funds from College Football Playoff grants (administered through the CFP, not the NCAA national office).
