Penn State football student-athletes allowed easier transfers
The NCAA understands that the Penn State sanctions announced today will impact both current and incoming football student-athletes. As a result, the NCAA will provide appropriate and immediate relief of some NCAA rules for all eligible football student-athletes.
If football student-athletes elect to consider transferring from Penn State, several provisions of NCAA legislation will be set aside to allow those students both a simpler transfer process and the opportunity to participate immediately wherever they choose to go:
- Football student-athletes who transfer will not have to sit out a year of competition. Any incoming or currently enrolled football student-athlete will be immediately eligible upon transfer or initial enrollment at an NCAA institution, provided they are admitted and otherwise eligible per NCAA regulations.
- Penn State will release any incoming student-athletes from the National Letter of Intent.
- Permission-to-contact rules will be suspended. Penn State cannot restrict in any way a student-athlete from pursuing a possible transfer. Student-athletes must simply inform Penn State of their interest in discussing transfer options with other schools. Interested schools also must inform Penn State of their intention to open discussions with the student-athlete.
- Official and unofficial visit rules will be loosened. Any incoming or currently enrolled football student-athletes interested in taking an official or unofficial visit will be permitted to do so during the 2012-13 academic year, no matter how many visits they took during their recruitment. Institutions seeking to provide an official visit to a student who already visited the school as many times as NCAA legislation allows can seek relief from the NCAA on a case-by-case basis.
Additionally, the NCAA is considering waiving scholarship limits for programs to which these football student-athletes transfer, provided they reduce proportionately in the next year. For example, the limit is 25 new scholarships per year to a total of 85 scholarships. If the limits are waived in 2012-13 to accommodate one Penn State student-athlete who wishes to transfer to a particular school already at the limits, in 2013-14 the school will be limited to 24 new scholarships and 84 total scholarships.
The NCAA acknowledges that a large number of transfers away from Penn State could have a negative impact on the team's Academic Progress Rate. This impact will be addressed in the future as part of an overall academic review of the program.
