Fifth Year Students (including transfer student-athletes)
By the beginning of fifth year (ninth and tenth semesters), a student must be in a degree program, have satisfied eighty (80) percent of degree requirements, achieved a minimum cumulative grade-point-average of 2.00, earned a minimum of one and one half (1.5) course units for the prior Penn academic semester (not summer term) and the student’s transcript must display an average of four (4) course units as having been awarded for each full-time semester of Penn enrollment. A rising senior (unless a transfer student-athlete) must have a minimum of thirty-two (32) awarded course units on transcript with a minimum of six (6) awarded course units being for work completed in the most recently completed two full-time semesters (including summer sessions). A minimum of four and one half (4.5) of these six course units must be from academic course work completed in the prior two full-time semesters (not including summer) with the additional one and one half (1.5) course units coming from academic work completed in the prior two full-time semesters and/or summer sessions (including course units awarded for transfer credit), all of which must be displayed on the student’s transcript at the time of the eligibility evaluation.
This means if you are a 5th year student, to be academically eligible you must:
· Be a full-time student (unless you satisfy the criterion for a NCAA exception), and
· Be in a degree program (have an approved major, if applicable), and
· Have an official academic worksheet, and
· Have completed 80% of the requirements for your specific Penn degree, and
· Have a GPA of a minimum of 2.00, and
· Have a minimum of 32 course units (on transcript at time of eligibility review),
o A minimum of 6 course units awarded must be for academic work completed in the prior two full-time semesters and/or previous summer), and
o A minimum of 4.5 course units awarded, must be for academic work completed in the prior two full-time semesters (excluding summer), and
o A minimum of 1.5 course units must be for academic work completed in the previous full-time semester (excluding summer),
New transfer students (matriculating at Penn for first time), to be academically eligible you must:
· Be a full-time student, and
· Be in a degree program (have an approved major, if applicable), and
· Have an official academic worksheet, and
· Have completed 80% of the requirements for your Penn degree
o Thus, you will be required to have a sufficient number of awarded Penn and/or transfer course units on your transcript at the time of the eligibility review to satisfy the 80% percentage of degree requirement.
Provisional Eligibility –After eight full-time semesters.
If by the beginning of the ninth full-time semester a student-athlete satisfies all of the above requirements except for having thirty-two (32) course units awarded, the student-athlete may be considered for provisional eligibility provided a graduation audit has been completed.
· Minimum cumulative GPA for provisional eligibility consideration is 2.00.
· Minimum total number of awarded course unit credit is 30 CUs.
Provisional eligibility, if approved shall be for one semester only but may be extended for a second semester upon recommendation from the school eligibility officer.
To be considered for provisional eligibility a student-athlete shall meet with the school eligibility officer to discuss the academic deficiency and to develop an Academic Enhancement Plan (AEP) which shall record the plan for academic improvement and agreed upon conditions of provisional eligibility between the student-athlete and the school. The student-athlete shall then review the AEP with the Assistant Director of Athletics for Academic Services who may add additional stipulations. Following these two meetings, the student-athlete shall acquire signatures (in sequence) endorsing the AEP from the sport’s head coach and DRIA compliance coordinator.
