http://www.ncaa.org/...nal-student-athletes

Obviously all the most detailed info is above but the short is they won't have even used 2 years of eligibility. With running your eligibility is determined by which seasons you raced in. In theory someone could run all 4 years but if they didn't race say, indoor track, their freshmen year they could have 1 season of indoor track eligibility left. Now the harder part is that the NCAA won't always grant extra years of eligibility but this is where I'm less familiar with the rules. Sometimes you need to have a valid excuse like an injury or semester abroad or something to be able to defer that season of eligibility but I've only seen that with athletes who ran all 4 years with just a few seasons 'off' in there.

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Thank you both. That is useful. Just the 'easy' bit of running some good times now!

Your friend may only have 1 year of eligibility, if any at all, if they already attended 4 years of school.

I do not know how the "international" component comes into play, but in the US, once you enroll in a undergrad program, your 5 years of eligibility clock starts ticking. You can participate for 4 seasons in each sport over that 5 years with one available as a redshirt year.

If the same rules apply to an international student, then after 4 years of school - he/she would only have a max of 1 year eligibility.


All of that being said....its been 25 years since I ran track in college.....so I may be way off!!!

Well another friend, who used to train in our group pre university, studied a 3 years course. He didn't race in his last year but raced for 2 years in the states while studying a master. I told me that he didn't race the last year specifically to get 2 years but maybe he could of raced the last year because 5-3=2 anyway? But he is a pretty clued in chap with an Oxford degree and top 10 ncaa xc finish. I've emailed him and hope to heard back from him soon. Lets see how many googles it take SW to figure out who he is :)

In general, you are eligible to compete in 4 seasons of each sport (xc, indoor t&f, outdoor t&f) but you are only eligible during your first 5 years of study at the university level. There are, of course, exception to any rule, and the NCAA has all kinds of different rules depending on sport, division, and for international athletes. The answer, I think, to your original question is 3 years, and he will need to use his fourth (and final) year immediately following that final year of undergrad.

You need to look in the requirements surrounding amateurism and justifying your delay from starting. I would suggest unless there is additional information you are looking at 1 year of eligibility.

The difference between the current situation and your friend at Oxford is that Oxford teaches a 3-year course. Unless special circumstances apply you have 4 years of eligibility over a 5 year window after graduating high school. In the case of the Oxford student his two year masters finished within the 5 year post-high school window and by not running his final year in the UK he had 2 years of eligibility in the US. No matter how many seasons you compete in over a 4 year UK degree you would have a maximum of 1 left as standard in the US.

Double red-shirting due to injury is not unheard of i.e. 6 years of eligibility. I also personally know someone who was allowed to walk-on the UF football team as a kicker (without scholarship) after having played soccer professionally due a complicated set of confounding circumstances. So exceptions do get made. I am also aware of DIII schools being 'flexible' with the rules in terms of recruiting international athletes on masters programs. With the cost of a masters in the US there can be a willingness to turn a blind eye at the non-scholarship level and let people pay to play. However I wouldn't count on any of this and if you are expecting any form of special treatment you need to contact the school directly for advice.

Sorry I gave two examples. The example I'm interested in is my son who is studying a 4 year course. I think you are saying that although he hasn't completed in any University XC because he started at 4 years ago he only has 1 year left.

That would be correct... You can look at Canada... USports has 5 years of eligibility not tied to a date of enrollment. The one difference is that as soon as you compete over your limit (2 non-conference competitions or any conference regular season/playoff competition, so either non-conference meets, or games in the case of team sports, or any conference meets), you trigger the year, so if as a freshman I red-shirt XC, but race track, I have still burned my 1st year... I was able to wrangle 6 seasons of eligibilty, because as a freshman, due to injury I only raced non-conference, and not enough to result in the paperwork being done to burn a year of eligibility. The next 5 years, I used my eligibility (the rest of my 4 year degree, and a 2year master's)... The one exception is people who have completed their NCAA eligibility (used up all 4 years), who would not be eligible at the USports level, but if you only did 3 years of eligibility in the NCAA, you could attend grad school in Canada and compete for 2 years.