My son is a freshman at a juco. With the classes he has taken and scheduled for next year he will be at 57 credit hours, 3 short of an associates degree. He had the ACT scores and grades to go NCAA but Juco was best route. Is he required to get to 60 hours and graduate to play NCAA or can he play with just 57 hours coming over?
Thanks.
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Yes, he should be able to transfer though depending on the school he's transferring to there is the possibility that not all credits will transfer or be accepted. Upon transfer he'll be considered a Junior (for athletic purposes) and a Sophomore for academic purposes.
My son was in a similar situation last year. After 2 years of JuCo he had 56 hours. Upon acceptance to the out-of-state university (D2) only 38 hours were accepted so right now he's considered a Junior athletically, but a sophomore for academics Though he should be a Jr after this semester.
If he can, it might be worth taking a summer class to get the 60 hours and the Associate Degree - looks better on paper. In VA if a student earns their AS degree with all classes C or better, they are automatically accepted to any state funded school and all the classes transfer. That didn't apply to my son since he transferred to an out--of-state university.
Whether he is required to graduate with his Associates Degree depends upon a couple of factors. First of all, has he registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center and been certified as a Qualifier for Division I? If so, then he isn't required to graduate from the JUCO.
If he hasn't been certified as a Division I Qualifier, then he is required to graduate if planning/hoping to transfer to NCAA Division I and be immediately eligible. The Associates Degree isn't required if transferring to NCAA Division II, but is one of the 2-4 transfer eligibility options.
