NCAA and UCSD Academic Eligibility Requirements for Participation

NCAA Eligibility Requirements As Applicable to UCSD.

ALL STUDENT-ATHLETES:

Basic Rule:            Full-Time – 12 units

A student-athlete must be a full-time student in order to participate (practice or compete).  The only exception to this rule for competition is for graduating students who don’t need 12 units to finish – they must have notification on file from their college prior to the term that they are taking what they need to graduate.  The only exception to this rule for practice only (not competition) when classes are in session is the first five days of the quarter a student can drop and add classes and still be eligible to practice if below 12 units.  Students must declare a major by the start of their 7th quarter to remain eligible.

In addition:

Freshmen:

Must have Final Certification as a Qualifier completed by NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse (See www.ncaaclearinghouse.net)

Transfers:

Must have verification of meeting NCAA transfer requirements as determined by the Compliance Coordinator:

Two-Year Colleges – need to verify that the student fulfills one of the following:  an AA degree; at least 2 semesters/3 quarters full-time enrollment, and an AA degree or an average of 12 hours of transferable degree credit per term attended full-time.

Four-Year Colleges – need to meet a transfer exception to the residence requirement (most common is the One-Time Transfer Exception – which requires the student to have been eligible for competition had he or she returned to the original school, and the original school must have no objection to granting the student’s transfer).

4-2-4 Transfers – students who enroll full-time at a four-year school and then attend a two-year school full-time before transferring to UCSD must meet the requirements applicable to two-year transfers as outlined above, utilizing only work from the two-year college(s) attended after the four-year college enrollment.

NOTE: For all three transfer types listed above, the student can be immediately eligible, if, for a consecutive two-year period immediately before the date on which the student begins participation, the student has neither practiced nor competed in the involved sport in intercollegiate competition or in organized, noncollegiate competition while enrolled as a full-time student.  This period of time cannot include any period of time prior to the student’s initial collegiate enrollment.

Continuing Students:

GPA Rule:  2.00 Cumulative

A student-athlete must maintain a 2.000 cumulative GPA for eligibility each quarter under California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and UCSD rules. Each student’s GPA will be evaluated at the end of each quarter and must be a 2.00 cum GPA or better for the student to continue to be eligible for competition.

Units Basic Rule:  36/12

At the start of each academic year (fall quarter) a student’s continuing eligibility is determined by whether or not the student has successfully completed at least 36 quarter hours since the start of the previous year.  This includes summer school hours, however 75 percent of the credit hours need to be from the fall, winter and spring quarters.

If a student is not meeting the requirement that he or she has 36 units from the prior year, then the student’s overall record at UCSD is evaluated to see if the student has an average of 12 units per term enrolled at UCSD.  Summer school units cannot be more than 25% of the minimum total units required for meeting the average of 12 units per term enrolled.  This is referred to as the “averaging method”.

If a student is still not meeting the above requirements at the start of the Fall term, he or she can be re-evaluated at the end of the Fall quarter to see if he or she has met the requirements (i.e., 36 units from the previous three quarters).

The student-athlete shall use no more than 25 percent of the minimum number of semester or quarter hours required for satisfactory progress during the summer.

Credit received through advanced-placement tests may not be used to meet the minimum credit requirements at UCSD.

Correspondence, extension and credit-by-examination courses taken from a school other than UCSD shall not be used in determining the student's academic standing or satisfactory progress.

Credit for courses that are repeated may be used by a student to satisfy the minimum academic progress requirements only once and only after it has been satisfactorily completed.  A grade of “D” in a course is considered satisfactory completion of the course for eligibility purposes if the units are acceptable for graduation credit.

Credit for a course that may be taken several times (i.e., independent study, research) shall be limited by institutional regulations.

Credit hours earned at another institution before initial full-time enrollment at UCSD may not be used to satisfy minimum academic progress requirements. However, a student-athlete’s total academic record after initial full-time enrollment at UCSD, including the record at other institutions later attended, may be considered in evaluating eligibility.

Six-Unit Rule:

At least six units must be suxxessfully completed each term foreligibility the following term. Summer school CANNOT be used to earn these term-to-term units. [Note: Beginning with the student-athlete's 7th quarter, the units used for the six-unit requirement must be applicable to the student's designated degree program (180 units, not major)] See the compliance coordinator for an exception to student-athletes in their final year (36 units) of the degree program.