Things may be getting easier in the SEC for graduate transfers with relaxed admission rules proposed by Arkansas along with South Carolina and Missouri, according to a story by Ross Dellenger at Sports Illustrated.
The new legislation, an amendment to a bylaw, allows grad transfers to pursue a second undergraduate degree, according to the proposal obtained by Sports Illustrated. The SEC’s decision aligns its policy with that of the NCAA, which made the change to its graduate transfer legislation in April.
SEC presidents and chancellors approved the proposal during the final day of their virtual spring meetings to ease a restriction that required graduate transfers to enroll in graduate school at his or her new school.
With more enrollment options available now, athletes are free to pursue a second major in the same way he or she could have done at the previous school. Admission standards at graduate programs can be stringent and often complicated.
The new legislation will “reduce tensions created between athletics and academic departments” in locating graduate programs for athletes who may not “lack necessary practical experience to be admitted,” the proposal reads.
It is effective for those graduate transfers enrolling Aug. 1 or later.
Coaches now can have more flexibility pursuing graduate transfers that can play immediately have two years of eligibility remaining at their new schools if they meet the regular requiresments for that level of transfer.
Instead of rewarding students who achieved academic success and obtain a degree not offered at their original school it has developed into another area of recruiting.
From 2013 to 2018, the NCAA says the number of grad transfers had more than doubled.
The legislation adjusted a rule not often used as it was intended. Graduate programs can be two and three-year endeavors that few athletes complete.
The two-year degree completion rate for graduate transfers in football was 31%, according to figures from the NCAA.
