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College Eligibility Rules
Revised 8/18/09 (Jeff Kula (National College Director), Will Deaver (Championship Director), Matthew Bourland (Championship Series Manager)

These rules were updated in the summer of 2009 to apply for the 2010 UPA College Championship Series.

  1. Prologue
    1. The intent of these rules can be summed up in two parts: to have schools represented by teams whose players are all current, legitimate students, and to limit the players in the College Series to less than five (5) years of post-high school Ultimate experience. To be eligible to compete in any event of the UPA College Championship Series (Sectionals, Regionals, and Nationals), a PLAYER must meet ALL of the following requirements:
  2. Academic Eligibility
    1. Applicability -- The following registration requirements, including exceptions, must be applicable throughout the entire spring semester at a school on a semester system, or for quarter system schools, throughout the spring quarter plus at least one of the entire preceding fall or winter quarters.
    2. Degree Seeking Enrollment -- S/he must be both accepted and enrolled in a regularly matriculated degree program at the school for which eligibility is to apply. Programs that culminate in only the awarding of a certificate are not considered "degree-seeking."
      1. see Section II.D.1 for Non-degree-seeking exception (spring term)
      2. see Section II.D.2 for Non-degree-seeking exception (fall or winter quarter)
    3. Half-time Status -- S/he must be considered at least a half-time student by his/her school registrar (two (2) full time classes or equivalent as defined by the registrar).
      1. Graduate students engaged in research, teaching, or thesis production which will lead towards the awarding of a degree qualify under this rule.
      2. Correspondence and Internet courses and those taken through a "Continuing Education" or “Extension” program may not be used to fulfill the above requirements, unless approved through the UPA Coursework Validation process
      3. Students seeking a second Bachelor's Degree must have full-time status to be eligible, unless Rule II.D.3 (Light load exception) is to be invoked, in which case this requirement is waived.
      4. See Section II.D.3 for Light load exception.
    4. Academic Eligibility Exceptions:
      1. Non-degree-seeking exception (spring term): A student taking classes full-time in a non-degree-seeking program at the school for which eligibility is to apply may have the degree-seeking requirement waived provided:
        1. S/he is accepted and enrolled in a regularly matriculated degree program for the summer or fall term at that same school.
        2. The program in which s/he is accepted and enrolled for the summer or fall does not extend offers of admission for the spring term
        3. The spring term classes taken will be credited towards the degree program in which s/he is enrolled for the upcoming summer or fall term. See a) above.
        4. The student submits an Eligibility Inquiry as outlined in Section VI providing documentation from school officials confirming the above facts.
      2. Non-degree-seeking exception (fall or winter quarter): A student taking classes full-time in a non-degree-seeking program at the school for which eligibility is to apply may have the degree-seeking requirement waived provided:
        1. S/he is accepted and enrolled in a regularly matriculated degree program for the spring quarter at that same school.
        2. The program in which s/he is accepted and enrolled does not extend offers of admission for the quarter in which s/he is taking full-time classes.
        3. The fall or winter quarter classes taken will be credited towards the degree program in which s/he is enrolled for the upcoming spring quarter. See a) above.
        4. The student submits an Eligibility Inquiry as outlined in Section VI providing documentation from school officials confirming the above facts.
      3. Light load exception: The half-time requirement is waived for students who are BOTH:
        1. taking at least the minimum courseload required to graduate, where "minimum courseload" is at least one class; and
        2. going to graduate at the conclusion of the spring term in the current year.
        3. Students qualifying under a and b above are not eligible for subsequent College Series competitions before graduating with the degree to which this "light load" status was applied
  3. Participation Eligibility
    1. Definition of Participation -- Participation as it pertains to the college eligibility rules is defined as a player playing at an event or a player being included on an official roster for an event.
    2. Initial Participation -- If more than five (5) years have elapsed between initial participation in an ultimate event sanctioned by a national governing body and 1 June of the current year, the player is not eligible.
      1. see Section III.D.1 for Military Service Exemptions
    3. High School Participation – Initial Participation excludes participation in sanctioned events while in school prior to high school graduation and sanctioned high school events that occur immediately following high school graduation that are part of the spring high school competitive season.
      1. If a player participated in an event sanctioned by a national governing body while in high school (or before), initial national governing body participation date is taken as the earlier of:
        1. June 1st of the year after the year of high school graduation, or
        2. the player's first post-high school graduation national governing body sanctioned event that is not part of that spring's high school competitive season and that occurs after June 1st of the year of high school graduation.
      2. If a player participates in a national governing body sanctioned college championship series event prior to or following high school graduation, the player's initial national governing body participation date is taken as the date of that first such event.
      3. If a player participates in a post-high school graduation national governing body sanctioned event that is not part of either that spring's high school competitive season or college championship series, prior to June 1st of the year of high school graduation, the player's initial national governing body participation date is taken as June 1st of the year of high school graduation.
    4. Participation Eligibility Exceptions
      1. Military Service Exemptions -- Exemptions may be in place for players if their US military service directly prevented their UPA College Series eligibility or attendance as a part of a participating team. For each college series that a player is granted this exemption they will receive a one year eligibility extension. Requests for Military Exemptions must be submitted to and approved by the UPA College Eligibility Committee. Complete this information to apply for an exemption.
  4. Team Eligibility
    1. School Composition
      1. Each player's eligibility must apply at the same college or university (or schools in a current UPA approved consortium).
      2. If the school has multiple branches or locations, all players must be attending the same branch or location.
    2. Team Registration
      1. Each team must have a designated Team Organizer who will be responsible for the integrity, completeness, and timeliness of the team's Roster.
      2. Before playing in any Series event, each team must meet the registration requirements outlined in the series guidelines.
    3. Membership Status
      1. Each player on the Roster must be a UPA member in good standing at all times during the Series.
      2. Each player must produce a picture ID upon demand of the tournament director or UPA official at a sanctioned event.
  5. Violation of these rules may result in disqualification from the current Series and/or disqualification from any or all UPA sanctioned events for up to one year. This penalty is applicable to any and all players on the violating team at the discretion of the UPA, and may include UPA events after the graduation of violating players.
  6. Clarifications

    These rules are designed to be as fair as possible for all of the wide range of schools and players participating in the Series. Experience has shown that there can be cases where these rules do not determine absolutely the eligibility of a particular player. The following procedure is available for players/teams for whom the rules are not clear:
    1. The team Spokesperson or the player in question may submit an inquiry to the College Eligibility Committee Chair at upa_coll_elig_comm@upa.org.
    2. The inquiry must be made and submitted by March 1st of the year to which the inquiry pertains. Late requests will be considered at the discretion of the Eligibility Committee.
    3. If the inquiry is deemed worth of case consideration, it will be reviewed by the Eligibility Committee (or a proxy approved by the Eligibility Committee), and responses e-mailed.
    4. This clarification procedure is NOT intended to allow exceptions to the eligibility rules. Rather, it allows accurate and consistent determination of eligibility status WITHIN these rules.
Last updated 08/31/2009 - 17:54
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