I understand the NCAA has a 20-40-60 rule which states that a student-athlete must have completed 40% of the required hours for their major. Let’s say I reach my 5th semester and declare a major in which I do not have enough hours to reach the required 40% progress by my junior year. Does this 40% rule still apply to someone who has declared a new major?
Anyone have any experience in this type of situation? My son is now considering changing his major and will be in this exact situation, he will not meet performance to degree requirements for the first year after the change. Any advice?
DryerSheet, not sure what you ended up doing but since we needed to resolve my son’s situation prior to fall semester we ended up calling the NCAA, they have a parent/athlete 877 number. Very helpful call.
I thought I would post our findings here in case others find themselves in a similar situation.
The rules and regulations on progress toward degree are designed to keep students from taking easy courses that never amount to anything. In my son’s case, he meets the requirements to file for a waiver of the regulations. The bylaws (on the NCAA website) are very specific and call out the conditions which must be met in order to have a waiver even be considered. The person on the phone told us exactly where to look to read the regulations for ourselves and he explained all of the conditions to us. You must have been on track for your previous major to graduate in 5 years, have a GPA that is above the min. threshold and only take courses from the time of change on that are for the new degree (no flip flopping majors back and forth). You also need to have the change of major signed off on by a Dean of the school (or an equivalent academic authority unaffiliated with the athletic department).
My son will be working with his school’s compliance officer to file the waiver, and as with everything, there are no guarantees he will be granted it. It was a tough decision for him to decide to change majors and put his eligibility at risk, but long term we think he is making the right choice.
I hope it works out for your son, OnTrack! Keep us posted.