Athletics Risk Management and Compliance Services: Current Longhorns — Academic Eligibility
- Full Time Enrollment Requirement
- Good Academic Standing
- Progress Toward Degree Requirements
- The Big 12 Six-Hour Rule
- NCAA Five-Year Rule
- Class Enrollment Changes
- Academic Performance Rate
Full Time Enrollment Requirement
To be eligible for practice, competition, and financial aid, you must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours during the fall and spring semesters. If you need fewer than 12 credit hours to graduate, you may enroll in only these final hours and still be eligible for practice, competition, and financial aid. Graduate students who have eligibility remaining must be enrolled in at least nine credit hours to be considered full-time at The University of Texas.
Good Academic Standing
Please note that for first-semester student-athletes, the Big 12 requires successful completion of at least eight credit hours.
Graduate students must maintain good academic standing in accordance with institutional and conference rules. Additionally, a graduate student must earn six credit hours per term to be eligible.
Progress Toward Degree Requirements
To maintain your eligibility, you must:
1) Complete 24 credits prior to second year of enrollment;
2) Earn 18 semester credits during the academic year (excluding summer);
3) Earn six academic credits in the previous regular academic term or full-time enrollment;
4) Declare a major no later than the beginning of your fifth semester or third year of enrollment and, thereafter, complete the required credits in courses applicable to your declared major;
5) Complete 40%, 60%, and 80% of your degree requirements before the beginning of your third, fourth and fifth years of enrollment, respectively;
6) Maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average that is 90% of the minimum GPA required to graduate (at least 1.8) at the beginning of your second year, 95% of the minimum GPA (1.9) at the beginning of the fourth year and 100% of the minimum GPA (2.0) the fifth year.
The Big 12 Six-Hour Rule
A student-athlete must successfully complete at least six credit hours in a regular term (exclusive of intersession and summer credit) with a minimum grade of "C-" or pass six hours with an overall cumulative GPA of 2.0 to be eligible for competition that takes place during the next regular term of the institution. A student-athlete who fails to satisfy this rule and is in his or her last season of competition may neither compete nor be in uniform during postseason and between-term competition occurring after dates to be determined annually by the Big 12. This rule does not apply to student-athletes who have graduated with a bachelor's degree.
NCAA Five-Year Rule
The NCAA states that you have five calendar years in which to complete four years of competition in a sport. This five-year clock begins when you become a full-time student at any collegiate institution. These five years are continuous. If you are not enrolled in school at any time during these five years, you do not regain that time. In special cases, you may be granted an extension of the five-year eligibility clock.
Class Enrollment Changes
You must have approval from your Athletics Department's Student Services Office before dropping a class. If approval is granted, you must submit changes in your enrollment (adding/dropping courses, late enrollment, instructor drops, etc.) before the published deadlines set by The University of Texas in order to ensure that your records are accurate and complete. This rule prevents you from making changes in your academic schedule that could jeopardize your eligibility status.
Academic Performance Rate
The APR was established by the NCAA to measure the success or failure of collegiate athletic teams in moving student-athletes towards graduation.
The APR is calculated by allocating points for eligibility and retention. Each player on a given roster earns a maximum of two points per team, one for being academically eligible and one for remaining at the institution. A team's APR is the total points of a team's roster at a given time divided by the total points possible. Teams that fail to achieve an APR score of 925 -- equivalent to a 50% graduation rate -- may be penalized with the loss of scholarships. A perfect score is 1000.
The APR is designed to measure semester-by-semester academic progress, and thus provides a more real-time assessment of teams' academic performance than the six-year Graduation Success Rate (GSR). The APR is separate from the GSR, which measures the actual percentage of student-athletes who graduate, but does not account for students who would have graduated but left school early for non-academic reasons (such as a professional career).
