Can Graduate Students play ?

Athletic Recruits
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<p>Is it true that an athlete can only play for 4 years? Is this driven by the rules governing athletic scholarships? Saw the following NCAA Graduate Student FAQ here: Latest</a> News - NCAA.org. It does not answer the basic questions I am trying to understand. </p>

<p>My scenario is the following: Student who was on-track for D-1 recruitment slowed down starting middle of Junior senior year, after deciding on a career in medicine; potential D3/D2 recruit now, chose not participate in any recruitment efforts. Kid wants to play beyond club-level (walk-on the team, if allowed). No boost, no scholarship, play walk-on if good enough / allowed / open spot / etc. Straight-forward so far. </p>

<p>Now the unusual situation part: If lucky, kid may get into a school with guaranteed admission to medical school directly from HS (4 year UG + maintain 3.5 GPA + enter med-school for 4 years; co-located campuses, as it can make a difference in sports). What happens to the walk-on possibilities in this scenario? limited to how many years? 4 or 5 or more? just the 1st 4 years or any 4 years? etc? Note: no expectation of athletic scholarship for the duration</p>

<p>Am I am hopelessly over-complicating the issue? I realize this is not a recruiting question per-se, and I plan to reach out to the coach after the (lucky part) admission is secured. Appreciate any pointers.</p>

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<p>The link you provided is about transfers.</p>

<p>The rules concerning graduate students are pretty clear:</p>

<p>*Division I student-athlete with remaining eligibility may continue participating in athletics while enrolled in graduate classes. </p>

<p>To compete while in graduate school, a student-athlete must be within five calendar years of his or her initial enrollment in college. Student-athletes who have exhausted their five-year window for competition, but who have lost more than one season of competition due to injury, can apply for a waiver to continue playing.*</p>

<p>I know a woman who rowed as a graduate student.</p>

<p>Though I wonder what the rules are for Div II or III.</p>

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<p>@GolfFather: Thanks. So, it is as I had initially suspected. Allowed, but only for a maximum of 5 years in total, further restricted by the initial enrollment date. For the normal path 4 UG years + 1st year of PG. Did I summarize accurately? Still unclear about the total length of eligibility (4 or 5 years)!</p>

<p>In this case, the school in question is Div I. Do you think it could vary significantly in Div II or III ? Maybe someone else will chime in too.</p>

<p>Do you recollect any additional details about the woman who rowed in grad school? </p>

<p>PS: There is a BOX INSERT with 4 questions on the link I listed … here is what it contains:

</p>

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<p>grad student compete all the time on all levels----I want to say the QB at Wisconsin this year is a good example,he was the QB at North Carolina State as a senior and first year grad Asst. at Wisconsin,I think the rule is based on your class and then four years after broken by maybe a red shirt or injury year. you could also be in that situation if you file a petition due to injury where a 6th year of eligibility maybe granted.</p>

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<p>@schoolhouse: Thanks for the help.</p>

<p>So, in the most straight-forward case (without any academic interruption or red-shirting or injury-petition), the total eligibility is 4+1=5 Years. Yes?</p>

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<p>Once you start college the 5 year clock starts ticking. So if you have been in college 4 years so far and have not been on a varsity team for all 4 years (participating, not red shirt) you have one year of eligibility left… Grad school or undergrad, does not matter.</p>

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<p>@momof2010: Thanks for your clarification. It helped clear up the remaining uncertainty I had.</p>