Division I Progress Toward Degree

Andrew CardamoneShauna Cobb

National Collegiate Athletic Association

Session Description

• This session will review Division I progress-toward-degree requirements with an advanced focus on the application of the legislation, recent interpretations and complex issues.  An update on the actions of the NCAA Division I Academic Cabinet will be provided.  Attendees should have a basic understanding of the progress-toward-degree requirements prior to attending this session.

Session Outcome

• Leave session with a better understanding of advanced progress-toward-degree concepts.

Learning Objectives• Demonstrate appropriate understanding of 9-hour legislation

and corresponding interpretations.

• Apply recent progress-toward-degree interpretations.

• Issues related to Interim Term.

• Demonstrate appropriate application of Medical Absence Waivers as they apply to Progress-Toward-Degree legislation.

• Academic Cabinet Update.

Session Outline

• Session Outcome.

• Learning Objectives.

• 9 –hour legislation and recent interpretations.

– Case studies

• Interim Term.

– Case studies

• Medical Absence Waivers.

9-hour Requirement- Football

9-Hour Requirement - Football

• Football student-athlete must complete nine-semester hours or eight-quarter hours AND earn the “E” point for Academic Progress Rate during the fall term.

• Failure to do so and the student-athlete must sit out the first four contests in the following playing season.

Bylaw 14.4.3.1.6

Case Study Wallace – Spring Enrollee

Case Study Wallace – Spring Enrollee

– Everything’s okay right? Wallace earned nine hours.

• Not so fast.

• Wallace has completed four full-time terms and must have earned 40% of a degree after Fall 2012.

• Wallace has declared Sports Management, which requires 128 hours to graduate.

• 52 hours needed for 40%.

Case Study Wallace

• Wallace has only earned 49 hours.

• Short on percentage of degree for the E point.

• Subject to the four contest penalty.

• Wallace must then try to meet one of the exceptions.

9-Hour Requirement- Football - Eligibility for Two Contests

• Student-athlete may regain eligibility for third and fourth contest by earning 27-semester hours or 40-quarter hours before the beginning of the next fall term.

• Student-athlete in initial year of full-time collegiate enrollment may use hours earned at certifying institution during the summer prior to initial full time enrollment and the summer following the regular academic year.

Bylaw 14.4.3.1.6.1

9-Hour Requirement- Football - One-Time Exception

• One time during a student-athlete’s five-year period of eligibility, a student-athlete may regain eligibility for the first four contests by earning 27-semester hours or 40-quarter hours before the beginning of the next fall term.

• Student-athlete in initial year of full-time collegiate enrollment may use hours earned at certifying institution during the summer prior to initial full time enrollment and the summer following the regular academic year.

Bylaw 14.4.3.1.6.2

Case Study Avon – Interim Term

Case Study- Avon cont…

• Is Avon subject to the four contest penalty based on his Fall 2012 performance?

• Yes.

• Can the three hours earned in the J-Term fulfill the nine-hour requirement?

• No- 12/21/11 Staff interp.

• Can the three hours earned in the J-Term be used to fulfill the 27-hour requirement?

• Yes- 12/21/11 Staff interp.

Case Study Avon – Interim Term

Case Study- Avon cont…

• Is Avon subject to the four contest penalty at the conclusion of summer 2013?

• No. Earned 28 hours prior to the start of Fall 2013. Institution will use one-time exception and Avon will not be subject to the penalty.

Case Study Chris

Case Study- Chris cont…

• Is Chris subject to the four contest penalty based on his Fall 2012 performance?

• Yes.

• Is Chris subject to the four contest penalty at the conclusion of summer 2013?

• Yes. Failed to earn 27 hours prior to the start of Fall 2013.

• Institution must file a PTD waiver and present documentation that no additional degree applicable courses were available.

Satisfying Bylaw 14.4.3.1-(c)the Six Credit-Hour Requirement

With Enrollment at Another Institution

Six Credit-Hour Requirement

• Must earn six-semester or six-quarter hours of academic credit during the preceding regular academic term in which the student-athlete has been enrolled full time.

• Includes transfer student-athletes from a domestic two-year or four-year collegiate institutions.

Bylaws 14.4.3.1 and 14.4.3.1.2.1

Six Credits of Nontraditional CourseworkNontraditional courses completed at an institution other than the certifying institution, may be used to meet credit-hour and percentage-of-degree requirements, provided the following conditions are met:

(a) The course is available to any student at the certifying institution;

(b) The student-athlete enrolls in the course in the same manner as is available to any student; and

Bylaw 14.4.3.4.3

Six Credits of Nontraditional Coursework

• (c) Enrollment in the course occurs within the offering institution's regular enrollment periods (pre-registration or drop-add period) in accordance with the institution's academic calendar and applicable policies and procedures.

• “Regular enrollment periods" refers to periods in which students at the offering institution enroll in traditional courses.

Bylaw 14.4.3.4.3 and January 13, 2011, Ed Column

Transfer During an Academic Term

A student-athlete who transfers to the certifying institution during the same regular academic term in which he or she was enrolled full time at the previous institution is not required, upon transfer, to have completed six hours of academic credit during the same regular academic term at the previous institution.

October 7, 2009, Staff Interpretation

Kima - Withdrawal After Full Time Enrollment

Bunk – Part Time Enrolling After Withdrawal

Bodie - FT Enrollment During Same Term

Six Credits During an Interim Term

•Credits taken at another institution during the regular academic year in an interim term (e.g., J-term, mini-term) may be used to satisfy the 18/27-hour requirement

•However, these credits cannot be used to satisfy the six-hour requirement.

December 20, 2006, Staff Interpretation

Use of Concurrent Enrollment Courses to Satisfy Credit-Hour Requirements Traditional courses taken at another institution during a regular term while enrolled full time at the certifying institution may be used to satisfy the six credits per term and 18-semester or 27-quarter credit hours per academic year requirements, provided:

a.The courses taken at the second institution would count toward full-time enrollment at the certifying institution; and

b.The courses taken at the second institution will be included on the student's transcript at the certifying institution

July 13, 2005, Official Interpretation

Freeman - Earning Additional Credits

Marlo - Concurrent Enrollment

Medical Absence Waivers and Progress-Toward Degree Legislation

Medical Absence Waivers

• May be granted only when circumstances clearly supported by appropriate medical documentation establish that a student-athlete is unable to attend a collegiate institution as a full-time student as a result of an incapacitating physical injury or illness

• Involving the student-athlete or a member of the student-athlete's immediate family.

Medical Absence Waivers

• Any member conference can administer a medical absence waiver.

• Independent institutions must apply to the Division I Progress-Toward-Degree Waivers Committee. 

• Prorated at nine hours per term of actual attendance during an academic year in which a student misses a term or is unable to complete a term as a full-time student as a result of an injury or illness.

Medical Absence Waivers Continued

The prorated nine hours may be applied to the credit hour

requirements:

18 / 27 hour.

Six hour.

Six hour graduate/ postbaccalaureate.

 

Counting a Term in Which a Medical Absence Waiver is Granted When a student-athlete is granted a medical-absence waiver,

that term shall not count as a term of full-time enrollment for purposes of the 24/36 hour, the percentage and GPA requirements. 

However, the term will count for purposes of the 18-semester or 27-quarter hour and six-semester or six-quarter credit-hour requirements. 

September 14, 2005, Staff Interpretation

Case Study- Bubbles

• Bubbles, an track and field student-athlete from Hamsterdam University presents the following academic profile:

Case Study - Bubbles

Bubbles Transfers to West Side University

• West Side University files a Progress-Toward-Degree Waiver for Fall 2012

Citing that Bubbles has the following deficiencies:

• Six hours at the previous institution and is not eligible for the one time transfer exception; and

• Percentage-toward-degree (40%) .

The AMA Staff will ask you…

“Have you filed a medical absence waiver with your conference office?”

If you have not, we will suspend the case until a decision has been reached at the conference level.

Progress-toward-degree Waiver Team Policy

• Institutions must exhaust all waiver opportunities on campus and at the conference level before a PTD waiver will be decided.

Bubbles Wrap Up

• Medical Absence Waiver granted by Inner Harbor Conference office.

– Six hour rule met with nine prorated hours.

– Bubbles will not be subject to 40% until after the 2012 fall term.

Academic Cabinet Update

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Questions?

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