NCAA approves new transfer rule allowing immediate eligibility - ESPN

A new NCAA transfer rule will allow all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately if they meet specific academic requirements, as the Division I Council on Wednesday approved emergency legislation announced by the NCAA.

The decision isn't final until the meetings end on Thursday, and the rule still needs to be formally approved by the NCAA's executive board Monday, but that is expected to be a formality. The rule will provide immediately eligibility to any athletes who have transferred during the 2023-24 academic year, including the football players who entered the transfer portal Tuesday and during this window — as long as they are academically eligible and meeting progress-towards-degree requirements at their new school.

The legislation will not limit the number of times an athlete can transfer — and there are still two transfer windows — but they can't transfer midyear and play for a second school in the same season. Although the new rule is tied to academic progress, some in college athletics have expressed concern about the long-term implications for graduation rates.

«One of the questions we have to ask ourselves is, at what point does the degree still matter?» Oregon coach Dan Lanning told ESPN in a recent interview. «I think it's going to make it harder and harder if guys become multiyear transfer guys for them to actually have a college degree. If you graduate, there's a lot of times it makes sense — change schools as many times as you want — if you graduate. But on the same note, if somebody's changing schools three times, I'm wondering what their progress towards a degree really looks like. I think that's something everyone should probably have some awareness of.»

Previously, the NCAA's one-time