New NCAA transfer portal legislation brings updated rules for grad transfers

Included in changes to NCAA transfer legislation a week ago, graduate transfers will now need to enter the portal before their respective sports’ final transfer windows.

The legislation, passed this past week, allows all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately as long as they meet specific academic requirements. Previously, if an underclassman wished to transfer a second time, the athlete needed the NCAA to grant a waiver to compete immediately. Absent an approved waiver, the athlete had to sit out a year. 

The legislation does not limit the number of times an athlete can transfer. Portal windows still exist. The NCAA sent out memos to institutions twice this year stating that multi-time transfers could play immediately in 2024-25 without securing a waiver. Similar to the current bylaws, athletes would not be able to transfer mid-year and play for a new school in the same athletic season.

This means when the college football portal window closes on April 30, it will be the last time grad transfers can enter before next December. The same goes for college basketball players when their portal window shuts on May 1.

Changes have been made to grad transfer requirements and have been immediately installed.

“Student-athletes who plan to enroll as graduate students at their next school can enter the portal at any time during the academic year but must enter the portal prior to the conclusion of their respective sports’ final transfer windows,” the NCAA wrote in a press release last week.

News of new portal legislation is not a surprise. The NCAA agreed to a preliminary injunction in the Northern District of West Virginia District Court in December. The U.S. Department of Justice signed on to the lawsuit along with Minnesota, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

According to the federal lawsuit, the NCAA’s rule “unjustifiably restrains the ability of these college athletes to engage in the market for their labor as NCAA Division I college athletes,” the complaint states. By making it daunting to transfer twice, the rule also denies athletes educational opportunities, per the Department of Justice release.

The new NCAA transfer rules only gives more power to athletes, who can now freely transfer and play as long as they meet academic requirements.