Permanent 5 years of eligibility?

[MCScots2013]

How about a 5-5-4 Plan? 5 years but only 4 of those can be D3. Fifth year can be a transfer to another division. Call it a compromise to give the same potential eligibility to all NCAA players. Does seem like we're seeing a lot more interdivisional transferring in today's game. If you're good enough to go D2/D1, you've earned it and deserve to have the opportunity the others have.

[The Third Division]

The Medical hardship would be removed in the 5 year model for d3.

The only exceptions for pausing the 5-year clock are pregnancy, military service, and religious mission/public service commitment.

[MCScots2013]

Not necessarily. It's whatever the Division votes for. If the reverse were true and each division had to mirror one another we wouldn't be waiting for 2027 to figure this out.

[ziggy]

If the goal of making d3 5 to play 5 in order to retain enrollment because of decline, it feels like that's mutually exclusive with the schools that have enrollment issues.  Most of the schools in that situation do not have graduate school options.  It feels like a very dangerous game dangling an extra year of competition in front of a 21/22 year old since many are highly likely to want to play an extra year of competition against bottom tier teams even it means another year spending tens of thousands.  There is going to be someone who spends an additional $30k or so in order to play against Goucher.

There is no net impact on enrollment if roster sizes are the same. One roster spot is one enrolled student regardless of how long that student occupies the roster spot.

Is it, though?

One roster spot for four years is four student-athlete years. One roster spot for five years is, well, five.

You...just made my point?

Player A has a four year career, graduates and the roster spot is replaced by Player B in year 5.
vs.
Player C has a five year career and occupies a roster spot for five years.

From an enrollment/tuition standpoint over five years, Player A + Player B = Player C.

[Patrick Coleman]

I guess -- I didn't follow that you were talking about someone only enrolled for one year.

[ziggy]

I guess -- I didn't follow that you were talking about someone only enrolled for one year.

You would figure that player would be there if we continue talking about year six, but at that point Player C would be replaced by Player D.

So we're still ever only talking about one seat per year, the only thing that changes is how long a student athlete might occupy that seat. One seat = one tuition payment, regardless of who is "sitting" in that seat.

[KnightSlappy]

If you have a FB team with 100 roster spots, after 20 years you've had 2,000 player-seasons.

In a five-year eligibility model, you've filled those spots with 400 individual student-athletes.
In a four-year eligibility model, you've filled those spots with 500 individual student-athletes.

*roughly

[Patrick Coleman]

If you have a FB team with 100 roster spots, after 20 years you've had 2,000 player-seasons.

In a five-year eligibility model, you've filled those spots with 400 individual student-athletes.
In a four-year eligibility model, you've filled those spots with 500 individual student-athletes.

*roughly

Or ... there are 25% more roster spots. Or some sliding scale in between.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't really care how it works out.  I think fewer and fewer students are working on a four year model with each passing year, so keeping everything tied to that doesn't make a ton of sense.

At the same time, I'd be pretty sad if there's no pathway for nontraditional students to play sports.  When I was in college, we had a 28 year old freshman playing for the basketball team.  He was a local guy who'd just never gone to college for whatever reason.  The Coach found him somewhere, offered him a spot.  He commuted, but was on campus all the time, got involved in student life, played four years, and earned a degree he'd not otherwise have had.

I think those stories are generally pretty unique to d3 and I'd hope they'd provide ways for that kind of thing to be preserved.