A Division I proposal that would restore the one-time transfer exception for baseball student-athletes who never received financial aid is receiving support from student-athletes and administrators.

The Division I Management Council sent Proposal No. 2007-68 to the membership for comment in January and will review the measure for possible approval in April.

Sponsored by the Southeastern Conference, the rule tweaks one of the elements of a package adopted by the Division I Board of Directors aimed at improving the Academic Progress Rate of baseball student-athletes. That package, created as the result of the work of the Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group, included an elimination of the one-time transfer exception for baseball student-athletes.

That change was based on research suggesting that student-athletes who transfer graduate at a lower rate and take longer to graduate than non-transfers. Officials also believed that eliminating the one-time transfer exception would reduce the number of students who lose points in the APR calculations.

In its rationale for sponsoring the legislation, the SEC noted that nonscholarship student-athletes are not included in the APR cohort. However, some student-athletes in leagues that do not offer scholarships (for example, the Ivy Group) are included in the cohort if they are recruited. Current NCAA rules allow student-athletes to use the one-time exception if they were not recruited and did not receive aid.

The Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet (and its transfer issues working group) opposed the rule change because that opportunity was already available to walk-on student-athletes who were not recruited. The Cabinet also was reluctant to adjust rules adopted last year as part of the Division I baseball package until its effects have a chance to be measured.

 At the Management Council meeting in January, SEC Associate Commissioner Greg Sankey said that his conference believed the legislation was a student-athlete well-being issue. The Committee on Academic Performance supported the proposal on the same merits.

Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Chair Kerry Kenny, former basketball student-athlete at Lafayette, told the Management Council in January that the SAAC supports allowing student-athletes who experienced some recruiting to still use the transfer exception because the threshold for recruitment can be so low – one letter from an institution constitutes recruitment.

SAAC members believe the issue is one of student-athlete well being as well. Matt Dobbins, a SAAC member and baseball student-athlete at Jacksonville, wrote about the issue recently on the Double-A Zone.

“Currently, baseball walk-ons are forced to sit out a year of competition if they decide to transfer to another Division I institution, which means an additional year with unnecessary monetary expenses for that student-athlete,” Dobbins wrote. “Should we penalize these student-athletes for taking advantage of greater opportunities for themselves? I think not.”

To read more from Dobbins and discuss the issue, click here.

If the Management Council approves the proposal in April, it goes to the Board of Directors for consideration on April 24. If adopted, the measure takes effect August 1.