The college transfer portal, explained

Windows are short

Division I windows run from 10 days in football to about 45 days in some winter sports, and open spots at good programs often go in the first week or two.

Coaches wait for the portal

Other Division I coaches cannot talk to you about transferring until your name is in the portal, so have your list and film ready before then.

Your aid can change

Once you give notice, a Division I school can reduce or cancel your athletic aid starting with the next term.

There is no undo

Your current team does not have to take you back if you change your mind, so treat entering the portal as a final decision.

Eligibility depends on your grades

You can play right away at a new Division I school only if you would have been academically eligible to stay at your old one.

Start with compliance

Your compliance office confirms your window, your seasons left and how your credits transfer. Talk to them and your academic advisor before you give notice.

• Every sport has a window, listed above.
• Give written notice in your window and finish the NCAA transfer education module. Your school must enter you in the portal within two business days.
• No sit-out year if you would have been academically eligible at your old school. Undergraduates who enroll midyear in baseball, basketball or softball wait until the next academic year.

• No windows outside football, so you can give notice at any time. Football has its own window.
• Your school enters you in the portal within seven days after you finish the transfer module.
• Your aid for the current year cannot be reduced because you gave notice, but next year's aid agreement can be canceled.

• You can give notice at any time.
• You can also sign a self-release form that lets other Division III schools contact you for 30 days without telling your current school.
• There are no athletic scholarships, so compare academic merit aid and need-based aid at each school.

• No transfer windows and no sit-out year, though some conferences add their own rules.
• Before you compete, you complete the NAIA transfer eligibility statement.
• NAIA coaches can contact an NCAA athlete first, without telling the current school.

Admission comes first

Check that the school offers the exact graduate program you want, then look up its deadlines, test requirements and recommendation letters before you contact the coach.

More time to give notice

In Division I, grad students outside football can give notice at any point in the academic year, not only inside a window, as long as their sport's last window has not closed.

Midyear can work

Grad students who enroll midyear in baseball, basketball or softball can be eligible right away, unlike undergraduates, if they meet the other graduate rules.