NCAA Transfer Rules for Volleyball

Volleyball, like most college sports in the United States, is governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is broken up into four categories: Division I, Division I-AA, Division II, and Division III. In order to prevent volleyball players and other student-athletes from jumping from school-to-school over the course of their careers, the NCAA has instituted rules regarding the eligibility of athletes when it comes to transferring to a different school.

  1. Eligibility

    • The majority of transfer students in the college ranks transfer from a two-year school such as a community college or junior college to a four-year college or university. These students must meet the same academic and amateur eligibility standards as freshmen do. These include the following: four years of English; three years of math (Algebra I or higher); two years of natural or physical science; two years of social science; and four years of extra core courses; and they must maintain a minimum required GPA in the core courses. They also need to earn a minimum score on the SAT or ACT that meets NCAA standards.

    Permission to Contact

    • For volleyball players who want to transfer from one 4-year school to another, there are certain rules that must be followed. The school that the player wants to transfer to must get a permission-to-contact letter from the athletic director at the school that the student is currently enrolled at. Until this letter is received, the new school cannot contact the player. The player does have the right to appeal if her current school is denying the new school permission to contact the player.

    Academic Year-in-Residence

    • Generally, if a player transferring from a two-year school to a four-year school doesn't meet academic requirements, or a player is transferring from one 4-year school to another, the player is required to sit out one season in order to focus on academics. The NCAA does make exceptions to this rule, however, and the one-year rule can be waived in the following circumstances: if the player has never transferred from a four-year school before and meets academic requirements; if the player's former school dropped their volleyball program; if the player was never recruited, on scholarship, practiced for more than 14 days, or played in a game for the school; if the player goes back to his first school without playing for the second school; or if the player didn't play or practice with the volleyball team for two years.