The Division II Academic Requirements Committee will survey the membership to gain more direction on academic issues relating to the one-time exception for transfer student-athletes.

The committee, which met February 6-7, received a report from the NCAA research staff about the academic performance of transfer student-athletes. The report was based on information taken from the most recent pilot study of the Division II Academic Success Rate. While the committee agreed that the information is interesting, it concluded that the data contained in the sample were not sufficient to justify legislative action.

Instead, the committee decided to survey key segments of the membership to gain a better understanding where Division II collectively stands on issues involving transfers.

The membership will be asked to react to the following possible changes to the one-time transfer exception (Bylaw 14.5.5.3.10):

Eliminate the one-time transfer exception in all Division II sports.

Eliminate the one-time transfer exception for students coming from a Division I institution.

Eliminate the one-time transfer exception in certain Division II sports (for example, football).

Eliminate the one-time transfer exception for students who have achieved at least 72 hours of degree credit.

Establish a minimum number of transferable-degree credit hours (for example, an average of 12 hours per term of full-time collegiate enrollment) that must be achieved in order to use the one-time transfer exception.

Base the one-time transfer exception on Division II's and the institution's continuing-eligibility requirements and not on whether the student-athlete would have been eligible had he or she remained at the Division I institution.

Limit the use of summer school hours in the summer before transfer to the Division II institution for meeting eligibility requirements under the one-time transfer exception.

Require one-time transfer verification forms to be kept on file at Division II conference offices.

Division II chief executive officers, faculty athletics representatives, athletics directors, senior woman administrators and compliance officers will have the opportunity to participate in the Web survey. In addition, student-athlete reaction will be solicited through the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Coaches groups, commissioners and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers also will have input.

The survey will be administered this spring, in advance of the June meeting of the ARC. If the results provide enough direction, the committee will recommend legislation to the Management and Presidents Councils for their July meetings (and subsequent consideration at the 2005 Convention).

The ARC will host a 2005 Convention forum on the one-time transfer exception, either to discuss proposed legislation or to seek more guidance from the membership if legislation is still in the development phase at that time.

In other actions at its February 6-7 meeting, the committee:

Reviewed changes to the SAT and ACT tests that will be implemented next year.

Supported the recommendation of the Graduation Rates Project Team to require Division II member institutions to submit information for the new Academic Success Rate. The ARC noted that the information not only would be valuable for comparative purposes, it also would provide important research benefits.

Discussed how to acquire more information for the Division II Academic Performance Census, which tracks academic behaviors of student-athletes and provides researchers with up-to-date information. Division II does not mandate participation in the census. The absence of a requirement affects the response rate, which in turn affects the quality of the study. The committee discussed whether information required by the study could be pulled from compliance software to make it easier for the membership to report.

Noted an article in the August 18, 2003, issue of The NCAA News in which the Division II Presidents Council said that it did not support midyear academic certification in addition to the six-hour requirement that was adopted at the 2004 Convention.