Five years after the concept of an alternate means of reporting graduating outcomes was first discussed, the Division II Academic Requirements Committee viewed the first preliminary data from its Academic Success Rate.

At its June 25-27 meeting, the Academic Requirements Committee noted that 75 percent of all Division II institutions had submitted ASR data for the 1999-00 entering class. The draft reports for the institutions that submitted data was to be available in mid-July through electronic means.

The final ASR report for the 1999-00 cohort will be published this fall in conjunction with the annual federal report.

The penalty for not reporting does not begin until 2011. However, the committee has encouraged the membership to comply as soon as possible to help individual institutions avoid workload issues that would arise in subsequent years if they defer reporting.

To that end, the committee noted a June 19 memorandum from the NCAA research staff to Division II athletics directors and faculty athletics representatives. That memo announced the launch of the Division II Academic Tracking System, which will enable institutions to track outcomes for cohorts of currently enrolled student-athletes. Although the new system will not provide institutions with the means to officially submit ASR information (that must be done through the Graduation-Rates Data Collection System), it will assist with the tracking so that the information required for reporting in 2011 will be compiled and saved.

Other business

The committee also considered a referral from the Division II Presidents Council about transfer legislation for student-athletes who have graduated.

The Division I membership recently forced the Division I Board of Directors to reconsider new legislation that would permit any student-athlete who has eligibility remaining and is attending graduate school to transfer to another institution without sitting out a year.

The Division II recommendation from the Student-Athlete Well-Being Task Force goes one step further, proposing also to permit any student-athlete who has eligibility remaining and is seeking a second bachelor’s degree to transfer without sitting out a year.

The Presidents Council expressed concern about the potential for abuse for individuals seeking a second bachelor’s degree and referred the proposal to the Academic Requirements Committee.

The committee, however, supported the proposal as written, noting that the student-athlete well-being elements of the proposal are more significant than concerns about competitive equity. The Presidents Council will consider the proposal again at its August meeting.

On another matter, the committee agreed to sponsor legislation for the 2007 Convention to change requirements for two-year transfer student-athletes who are seeking to transfer to Division II institutions under the 12-hours-per-term averaging standard. The proposal would permit such transfers who have also earned credits at a four-year institution as part-time students to use the four-year credits toward academic certification at a Division II institution.

Currently, two-year transfers must transfer credits earned at the four-year institution back to the two-year college, with those credits being placed on an official transcript or other official document before they can be used to satisfy the two-year transfer rule. However, some two-year institutions have been reluctant to include the credits on their transcripts. Also, even in cases where two-year institutions have been willing to include the four-year credits on their transcripts, the additional time required to complete the process has resulted in student-athletes missing practice or competition while awaiting certification.

The committee concluded that such outcomes were not fair to student-athletes who have completed the work necessary to compete in Division II.

In the proposal, the committee seeks to permit prior approval from the two-year college that it will accept the four-year college credits.

Two-year transfers who have graduated from two-year colleges would continue to be required to have credits earned at four-year institutions placed on official transcripts.