Athletic Eligibility and Compliance

Eligibility

Online Eligibility Forms
At the start of each academic year all returning and incoming student-athletes need to complete required forms. A workflow packet to complete these forms will be sent out to you via ARMS around August 1^st if you are on a current roster. If you are not on a current roster, please contact the appropriate coach for the sport you wish to participate in.

General Eligibility Guidelines
In order to be eligible to participate in practice and/or competition, all student-athletes must meet minimum academic and other requirements as determined by NCAA, Ivy League and institutional rules and standards. The institution has established Working Eligibility Policies and Procedures where you can find current information on academic eligibility (i.e., credit hour requirements, GPA requirements, etc.) and the requirements you must meet in order to be able to practice and compete in NCAA athletics at Cornell. The Student-Athlete Handbook also provides an easily accessible reference with regard to the Athletic Department's overall administration, policies, and procedures specifically relevant to you.

Time Away From Cornell
If at any time you take time away from Cornell (expectedly or unexpectedly), be aware that what you do academically or athletically while you are away may impact your eligibility upon return to Cornell. Prior to your leave, or as soon as possible thereafter, it is advised that you contact a member of the compliance staff regarding any plans to enroll elsewhere or compete while away from Cornell so that eligibility ramifications, including a possible 5th year (see below), may be discussed.

Fifth Year/Medical Hardship
Student-athletes have eligibility for no more than four (4) seasons of intercollegiate athletic competition in any sport, which ordinarily must be used within five (5) calendar years from their first full-time matriculation at any collegiate institution. However, under Ivy League rules student-athletes are ordinarily expected to use their eligibility during their first four years of enrollment. The Ivy League does not allow "redshirts" (i.e., sitting out a season of competitive play to extend eligibility). If you are enrolled at Cornell and medically able to participate during your season, you are considered to have used a season of eligibility regardless of whether you compete. In limited circumstances (i.e., medical hardships, leaves of absences) there are exceptions to this rule. If you are considering a 5th year, please consult the Compliance Office for more information on the process and to assess whether you qualify for a 5th Year Waiver.

Extra Benefits

An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or representative of the institution's athletics interests to provide a student-athlete (or the student-athlete’s friends or relatives) a benefit that is not generally available to general public or student body or is not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation (NCAA Bylaw 16.02.3). Common examples of extra benefits that a student-athlete may NOT receive include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Money, special discounts, payment arrangement or credit on a purchase (e.g., airline ticket, clothing) or a service (e.g., laundry, dry cleaning);
Free or reduced cost for professional services that are not available on the same basis to the general student body;
Use of a telephone or credit card for personal reasons without charge or at a reduced rate;
Entertainment services (e.g., movie tickets, dinners, use of car) from commercial agencies (e.g., movie theaters, restaurants, car dealers) without charge or at a reduced rate, or free or reduced-cost admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations, unless such services also are available to the student body in general;
A loan of money, a guarantee of a bond, an automobile or the use of an automobile, or signing or co-signing a note with an outside agency to arrange a loan; or
Anything given to a student-athlete based on his/her status as a student-athlete.

Recruiting

As a current student-athlete, and given your relationship with possible prospective student-athletes (“prospects”), it is important that you understand some do’s and don’ts of the recruiting process.

Official Visit Policy
If your coaches decide to have you host a prospect, it is your responsibility to review and adhere to our institution’s official visit policy. Contact the Compliance Office if you have any questions.

Social Media

You should not initiate any contact with a prospect if you do not know them.
You may continue your existing friendships with individuals that are prospects. You can also join recruiting calls with your coach so long as it is not on your required off day (NCAA Bylaw 13.1.2.7).
You’re smart, so use your head when it comes to social media! Don’t post or tweet anything on Facebook, Twitter, etc. that you wouldn’t want your parents or future employer to see.

Name, Image, Likeness & Employment

Student-athletes may use their name, image and/or likeness (NIL) in a commercial manner subject to New York State laws and regulations (New York Collegiate Athletic Participation Compensation Act, Section 6438-C) and institutional policy as summarized in Cornell’s NIL Policy. We will update the NIL and Employment sections of the compliance website whenever there is a change to New York State law or NCAA or Ivy League rules that affects them.
Student-athletes must disclose any NIL opportunity to the institution prior to entering into a written or verbal contract or otherwise participating in NIL activity. To meet this requirement at Cornell, student-athletes should submit a Student-Athlete Employment and Name, Image, and Likeness Disclosure Workflow via ARMS. Upon review, the institution shall disclose to the student-athlete, or their legal representation, any conflicting contractual provisions.

Practice & Playing Season

Outside Competition
All student-athletes must receive approval from the Compliance Office prior to participating in any outside competition as a member of an outside team (including a summer league team) or as an individual. If you wish to compete on an outside team, please complete the Outside Competition Workflow in ARMS and submit it at least 7 days before you plan on competing.

In limited circumstances, student-athletes may accept prize money based on their place, finish, or performance. If you accept any prize money, you must complete the Student-Athlete Prize Acceptance Workflow in ARMS. It is important to remember that the total amount of prize money you accept during the year may not exceed your costs to compete. You should always keep your receipts in case you need to prove this.

Countable Athletically Related Activities
Countable athletically related activities (CARA) include any required activity with an athletics purpose involving student-athletes and at the direction of, or supervised by, one or more of an institution’s coaching staff (including strength and conditioning coaches). A student-athlete's participation in countable athletically related activities (CARA) shall be limited to the following daily and weekly limitations (see NCAA Bylaw 17.02.1, 17.1.7):

In Season		Out of Season
Championship Season	Non-Traditional Season	During Academic Year
Daily Limit: 4 Hours	Practice Limits: Weekly Limit: 8 Hours Season Limit: 32 Hours	Weekly Limit: Voluntary, up to 6 Hours per week
Weekly Limit: 20 Hours	Strength & Conditioning: 4 Hours per week	Maximum of 4 of the allowable 6 hours can be coach directed skill instruction*
At least 1 day off per week	At least 2 days off per week	At least 2 days off per week

*Football is limited to 2 hours of film review and walk-throughs per week while out of season. The remaining time can be used for strength and conditioning activities.

Competition Day -- All competition and any associated athletically related activities on the day of competition (e.g., pre-game warm-ups) shall count as three (3) hours regardless of the actual duration of these activities. Countable athletically related activities may not be conducted at any time following competition, except between contests, rounds or events (e.g., double-headers in baseball) (NCAA Bylaw 17.1.7.3.2).

Below are partial lists of common activities that count and do not count against daily and weekly time limits:

Countable Athletically Related Activities	Non-countable Athletically Related Activities
Practices and any associated, required warm-up and cool-down activities.	Compliance Meetings.
Athletics meetings with a coach initiated or required by a coach (e.g. end of season individual meetings).	Meetings with a coach initiated by the student-athlete (as long as no countable activities occur).
Competition (and associated activities, regardless of their length, count as three hours. [Note: no countable athletically related activities may occur after the competition]	Drug/alcohol educational meetings or CHAMPS/Life Skills meetings.
Field activity.	Study hall, tutoring, or academic meetings.
Setting up offensive and defensive alignments.	Student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC)/ Captain’s Council meetings.
On-field activities called by any member of the team at the direction of a member of the coaching staff where attendance is taken and reported back to the coaching staff.	Voluntary weight training not conducted/directed by a coaching staff member.
Required weight-training and conditioning activities.	Voluntary sport-related activities (e.g., Captain’s Practices not at the direction of the coach, initiated by student-athletes, no attendance taken, no coach present, etc.).
Required participation in camps/clinics.	Traveling to and from competition and practice sites (as long as no countable activities occur).
Participation outside of the regular season in individual skill-related instructional activities with a member of the coaching staff or under the direction of the coaching staff.	Training room activities (e.g., treatment, taping), rehabilitation activities and medical examinations.
Coach required or initiated discussion or review of game films.	Recruiting activities (e.g., student host).
Participation in physical activity class for student-athletes only and taught by a member of the athletics staff (e.g., coach).	Attending banquets (e.g., awards or postseason banquets).
All continuous activity from the time the team is required to report until they are released must count as CARA.	Fundraising activities or public relations/promotional activities and community service projects.

Voluntary Activity: is one that is initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete. An activity is not voluntary if a coach directs the activity through instructions to captains or others, attendance is taken, participation is recorded, information about the activity is required to be reported back to the coach or other staff member (including strength and conditioning coaches), or penalties or incentives are provided (by a coach or teammate) for participation in the activity. Further, the culture of the team, whether dictated by coaches, captains, or other team members, cannot progress to the point that “voluntary” activities are in fact required given fear of penalty (NCAA Bylaw 17.02.19).

Safety Exception -- A coach may be present during voluntary activities (noncountable) in a practice facility when students are using equipment in the sports of equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, rowing, swimming/diving, track (field events only), wrestling.

Banned Substances/Nutrition

The NCAA performs random drug testing each year on the campus of every member institution. As a Cornell student-athlete, the NCAA requires you to sign a drug testing consent form (this is part of your eligibility paperwork) each year before you can participate in intercollegiate athletic competition.

Samples collected at NCAA championships and randomly during the year are analyzed by a laboratory for evidence of substances that appear on the current NCAA List of Banned Substances.

NCAA rules require that institutions educate student-athletes about NCAA banned drugs and the products that may contain them. The rules also hold student-athletes responsible for anything they ingest. NCAA policy advises student-athletes to check with appropriate athletics staff prior to ingesting any supplement or medication. To facilitate this policy, institutions are required to identify and designate an educated resource to serve as a first point of contact with regard to any questions student-athletes have about banned drugs or the use of nutritional supplements.

The following listed staff members serve in this capacity at our institution:

Ed Kelly
Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine and the Doc Kavanagh Head Athletics Trainer
erk2@cornell.edu
255-4237

Allyssa Harrington
The Barbara Benioff Friedman ‘59 Director of Sports Nutrition
ah953@cornell.edu
255-6325

Jay Andress
Associate Director of Athletics for Strength and Conditioning
jsa35@cornell.edu
255-7526

NCAA Drug Testing
The NCAA performs random drug testing each year on the campus of every member institution. As a Cornell student-athlete, the NCAA requires you to sign a drug testing consent form (this is part of your eligibility paperwork) each year before you can participate in intercollegiate athletic competition.

Samples collected at NCAA championships and randomly during the year are analyzed by a laboratory for evidence of substances that appear on the current NCAA List of Banned Substances.

Sports Nutrition
Current NCAA rules require that institutions educate student-athletes about NCAA banned drugs and the products that may contain them. The rules also hold student-athletes responsible for anything they ingest. NCAA policy advises student-athletes to check with appropriate athletics staff prior to ingesting any supplement or medication. To facilitate this policy, institutions are required to identify and designate an educated resource to serve as a first point of contact with regard to any questions student-athletes have about banned drugs or the use of nutritional supplements.

Allyssa Harrington, The Barbara Benioff Friedman ‘59 Director of Sports Nutrition has been designated as this staff member at our institution. You can contact Allyssa at ah953@cornell.edu.

Additionally, if you have any questions about supplements or sports nutrition in general, please visit the Sports Nutrition section of our website, or contact Allyssa Harrington.