If a runner graduates in four years from a DI school, but only uses three years of eligibilty, can she compete the next year for the school she attends for graduate school? Are the NCAA transfer rules applicable if the runner is enrolled in a graduate study program?
read the rules:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/
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whoah, that certainly didn't come out good. cut and paste:
Graduate Student Eligibility
A student-athlete who is enrolled in a graduate or professional school of the college or university which he/she previously attended as an undergraduate student may participate in intercollegiate athletics, provided he/she has eligibility remaining and is within five calendar years of initial full-time collegiate enrollment for Division I and within the first ten full-time semesters of collegiate enrollment for Divisions II and III.
A student-athlete who has eligibility remaining and is within the specified five-year or ten-semester period also may participate while enrolled in a graduate or professional school at a Division I or II college or university other than the institution at which he/she completed an undergraduate degree, provided he/she meets the criteria of the one-time transfer exception to the general transfer residence requirement. That exception is as follows:
o The student-athlete must be seeking to participate in a sport other than Division I football, basketball and men's ice hockey, except that a student-athlete who seeks to participate in Division I-AA football may use this exception only if transferring from a Division I-A program.
o The student-athlete may not have transferred previously from another four-year institution unless he/she transferred previously and received an exception to the transfer residence requirement because his/her institution either discontinued the sport or did not sponsor the sport in which the student-athlete is a participant.
o The student must have been in good academic standing and eligible to compete had he/she decided to remain at the previous institution.
o The student-athlete's previous institution must certify in writing that it has no objection to the student-athlete being granted an exception to the transfer residence requirement.
NOTE: This exception does not apply to a student-athlete who attends a Division III institution for graduate school, unless the student-athlete is attending the same institution at which he/she was an undergraduate.
NOTE: If the student-athlete transfers to the certifying institution from a Division III member institution and meets the above-mentioned conditions, he or she may be eligible to compete but may not receive athletically related financial aid during that year.
Please contact the certifying institution or conference for additional information. You also may contact the NCAA membership services staff at 317/917-6222 if you have further questions.
the answer is YES but you must use your 4 years of eligibility within that 5 year window. You have to be matriculated in a graduate program and I think there is an age cap unless you go D II.