Current Student Athletes

This page is intended as a quick reference guide for NCAA rules and Jacksonville University athletics department policies. All athletics forms (student-athlete employment, outside competition, etc.) should be completed through JumpForward in addition to requesting complimentary admissions in your sport and signing off on CARA logs. Click here to log into JumpForward with your JU email address.

If you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact the compliance office or your athletics academic advisor!

Academic Eligibility

NCAA Continuing Eligibility Requirements

Year	GPA Requirement	Credit Hour Requirements
Freshman (First two semesters)	None	Must pass at least 6 credit hours during fall semester.
Sophomore (Entering third semester)	Cumulative 1.8 GPA	Must have passed at least 24 credit hours prior to the start of sophomore year. Must have passed at least 18 credit hours during the last two full-time regular terms (fall and spring). Must have passed at least 6 credit hours during the previous full-time term. Must pass at least 6 credit hours during fall semester.
Junior (Entering fifth semester)	Cumulative 1.9 GPA	Must declare a degree program if you have not already done so. All credit hours earned must be degree-applicable. Must have completed at least 40% of your degree program. Must have passed at least 18 credit hours during the last two full-time regular terms (fall and spring). Must have passed at least 6 credit hours during previous full-time term. Must pass at least 6 credit hours during fall semester.
Senior (Entering seventh semester)	Cumulative 2.0 GPA	Must have completed at least 60% of your degree program. Must have passed at least 18 credit hours during the last two full-time regular terms (fall and spring). Must have passed at least 6 credit hours during previous full-time term. Must pass at least 6 credit hours during fall semester.
Fifth Year (Entering ninth semester)	Cumulative 2.0 GPA	Must have completed at least 80% of your degree program. Must have passed at least 18 credit hours during the last two full-time regular terms (fall and spring). Must have passed at least 6 credit hours during previous full-time term. Must pass at least 6 credit hours during fall semester.
Post Graduate	Program Minimum GPA	Must pass 6 credit hours towards degree program.

Important notes to the above chart:

Cumulative GPA is certified each semester. This means that you must meet minimum GPA requirements at all times in order to remain eligible.
Academic credit earned during the summer will count toward meeting the 24 credit hour requirement for rising sophomores. It will also count for meeting percentage-of-degree requirements, but will not count for purposes of the 6 hour rule or 18 hour rule (or 9 hour rule for football).
If you are planning to enroll in summer classes, keep in mind that classes you take at other schools will not affect your JU (and therefore NCAA) GPA. If you expect to have a GPA deficiency, you can only rectify this through classes taken at JU.

Name Image Likeness

As of July 1, 2021, it it no longer against NCAA rules for student-athletes or prospective student-athletes to be compensated for the use of their Name, Image and Likeness. Per Florida law, all promotional opportunities must be disclosed to Jacksonville University's Compliance office. You can do that on INFLCR in your form library.

International student-athletes should first consult the compliance office as well as the office of international affairs before engaging in promotional activities.
Golf student-athletes may not conduct camps or private lessons without jeopardizing USGA amateurism status. If you have any questions please contact the Compliance office.

Name, Image and Likeness

On May 10, 2022, the NCAA issued clarification about JU booster and collective involvement with student-athletes. The main points of the NCAA's NIL guidelines are:

An NIL deal cannot be contingent on enrollment at JU or any other specific institution.
JU institutional staff and coaches cannot facilitate NIL conversations or arrangements.
JU institutional staff and coaches cannot communicate with a prospect on behalf of a booster.
NIL deals cannot be based on performance or achievement.

Complimentary Admissions

If your sport charges entry fees for spectators for your home games, you can select who you would like to receive a complimentary admission for each game through JumpForward. Once you've logged into JumpForward (click here):

Click on the "Comp Tickets" square.
Click on "Add/View Guests" at the top of the page to build your initial guest list.
Once you've built your guest list, you can sign complimentary admissions on an individual game basis based on who will come to that specific game.

A few important notes to keep in mind:

NCAA rules permit a maximum of 4 complimentary admissions, but the exact number you receive is up to your head coach.
Your guests' names will be placed on a pass list. They will need to bring a photo ID to receive entry to the game. Hard tickets will not be issued.
Your guests will be required to show a photo ID to claim their admissions.
Complimentary admissions should not be provided to agents, financial advisors, or boosters. If you have any questions, please contact the compliance office.
If you have a prospect-aged friend that you would like to invite to a home event, speak to your coach about putting that individual on the complimentary admissions list for prospective student-athletes.

Employment

If you have secured a job, please fill out the Student-Athlete Employment form in JumpForward. You can access JumpForward by clicking here. This is required for all student-athletes. Once you have logged in, click on the "Forms" square and then click "Forms Library" at the top of the page.

General

It is not against NCAA rules to get a job, and be paid for it, either during the academic year or during the summer as long as:

You are not paid based on the value you have for your employer using your status as a student-athlete.
You are paid only for work actually performed.
You are paid the normal going rate for the job you have at your appropriate experience level.

Extra Benefits

As you've likely heard from us in the past, it is against NCAA rules to accept extra benefits from a booster or anyone else who you don't have a pre-existing relationship with since before your time as a student-athlete. Some examples of extra benefits are below:

Any gifts with a tangible value (use of a car, free haircut, clothing, gifts, money, tickets for any kind of entertainment, etc).
Free or reduced-cost housing or meals. This includes "house-sitting" without paying rental costs at a comparable rate for similar housing.
Free or reduced-cost storage for the summer months.
Free or reduced-cost merchandise or services (excludes sales and other promotional offers that are available generally).
Loans or cosigning of a lease.
Free or reduced-cost moving expenses.

Keep in mind that while we have a fantastic student-athlete services department, your athletics academic advisor, your faculty advisor, or any tutors you may work with are not able to actually type your assignments or otherwise do your work for you. This is not only considered a violation of the JU honor code, but may also be deemed an extra benefit.

Exceptions and Permissible Benefits

There are a few permissible benefits you may receive as a student-athlete and as always, you should work with the compliance office to ensure that all necessary rules are followed. In general, you may:

Occasional meals provided by your coach, a JU staff member, the family of another student-athlete, or a booster. Occasional meals provided by a booster may only be held on-campus or at their house and compliance must be notified prior to any occasional meals taking place.
Occasional local transportation from a coach or other JU staff member for reasons unrelated to practice or competition. If your coach or JU staff member has offered you a ride somewhere, they must notify the compliance office. "Local" is limited to Duval County.

Financial Aid

All sports at JU have to follow specific NCAA guidelines on team limits for athletic scholarships. It is not a guarantee that your coach will be able to offer you an athletics scholarship. Whether you receive an athletics scholarship or not, we advise that you maximize the total amount of financial aid you can receive from all sources. All domestic student-athletes are encouraged to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

If you receive a scholarship in any amount from an outside source (other than JU or the state/federal government or a loan), you must declare it with both the compliance office and the Office of Student Financial Assistance. Failure to do so may keep you from receiving that particular scholarship. Many times these outside scholarships have to count toward team limits and we work with the financial aid office to ensure those limits are not exceeded.

Athletics Scholarships

All athletics scholarships are awarded for one-year periods, which are renewed during the summer at the discretion of your head coach and athletics department. You should be familiar with the terms and conditions of your athletics scholarship and any other non-athletics awards you are receiving. These terms are found on the second page of the initial scholarship you signed as well as all renewal documentation

You will be notified in writing of the status of your renewal prior to July 1 before the upcoming academic year. Renewals are made yearly and your scholarship may be kept the same, increased, decreased, or nonrenewed. If your scholarship is decreased or nonrenewed, you will be provided an opportunity for an appeal hearing. Notification of this opportunity will be delivered in an email to your JU email account from the Director of Financial Aid.

During the academic year, your athletic scholarship cannot be decreased of canceled for athletically-related reasons. Your athletics scholarship may be decreased or canceled during the academic year at the discretion of your coach if you:

Voluntarily withdraw from the team.
Render yourself ineligible for competition.
Fraudulently misrepresent any information on an application, letter of intent, or financial aid application.
Engage in serious misconduct warranting substantial disciplinary penalty from the university.
Fail to comply with other non-athletically related conditions (academic policies or standards, team rules or policies).
Request your information to be put in the NCAA transfer portal.

Academic Financial Aid and other JU Scholarships

It is possible that you may be eligible per NCAA rules for competition, yet you are not eligible to receive your JU or other scholarship due to varying eligibility requirements. Eligibility requirements for both federal, Florida, and JU scholarships may be found by clicking here. It is an NCAA requirement that you remain full-time to be eligible for practice and competition, but dropping to part-time status may also affect the status of your scholarships. Please contact the financial aid office if you have questions in this regard.

Note: International students are responsible for the U.S. federal taxes that are charged on the value of a room and board scholarship, those taxes are not covered by the grant-in-aid.

Gambling/Sports Wagering

Engaging in sports wagering activities may negatively affect your NCAA eligibility. "Sports wagering" is defined as betting an item of value for the chance to win another item of value. This could be as simple as betting who pays for a meal or participating in a betting pool in which you buy in for a chance to win the pot. While not necessarily encouraged, sports wagering does not include entering competitions that do not have an entry fee even if there is a tangible prize (free bracket pools). The scope of sports wagering rules extend to any sport in which the NCAA conducts a championship, regardless of the level of competition.

Using basketball as an example, this means that you could not bet on AAU, high school, college, the NBA or WNBA or any other levels or leagues since the NCAA conducts a championship in basketball. Sports wagering also extends to knowingly providing information to other individuals for the purposes of gambling such as:

Scouting reports
Injury reports
Any other information that could be used to place a bet on a game

Current student-athletes who are found in violation of NCAA gambling rules shall be deemed ineligible for further competition. All decisions on the restoration of eligibility will be made by the NCAA Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement.

Practice and Competition Hour Limitations

For practice hour purposes, you should think of the calendar year as broken up into three groups:

"In-Season": This is the time period in which your sport is in it's playing season. Most, but not all, sports split up this time between separate fall and spring semester segments according to NCAA guidelines. During this time you are permitted 20 hours per week of countable athletically-related activities and one day off per week must be provided.
"Out-of-Season" - When class is in session: During the semester, when your sport is not otherwise "in-season", you can be considered to be "out-of-season". During this time, you are permitted eight hours per week of countable activities. No more than two of the eight hours can be spent on skill-related instruction (all other sports).
"Out-of-Season" - When class is not in session: If you are not otherwise in-season and class is not in session (summer, between terms, spring break, etc.), no countable activities are permitted to occur.

Additional Notes

When you are in-season and class is not in session (summer, between terms, spring break, etc.), daily and weekly hour limits do not apply.
If you play multiple sports, as long as one sport is in-season you are limited to 20 total hours of countable activities overall each week no matter how you decide to split your time.
Women's basketball, men's basketball, and football in limited capacity are permitted to have summer workouts for student-athletes who are enrolled in summer school or meet certain academic criteria. The guidelines for workouts are similar to the "out-of-season - when class is in session" section above.

Countable Athletically-Related Activities

Below is a chart that covers some activity types that are countable and some that are not countable. This list is not exhaustive. If you have any specific questions, please contact the compliance office.

Countable	Non-Countable
Competition. Practice. Required strength and conditioning activities. Meetings with coaching staff in which sport skill or tactics are discussed. Involuntary participation in camps or clinics. Any other athletics activity with a coach present.	Compliance meetings. Meetings with your athletics academic advisor. Required study hall in SACS. Community service. Promotional activities or other media events. Training room activities. Voluntary strength and conditioning activities in which your sport's coach is not present and attendance is not taken. Competition-related travel. Hosting duties for official visits.

All coaches are required to log practice and competition hours with the compliance office through JumpForward. Periodically, you may receive an email notice to verify that a specific week was entered correctly. This process is to your benefit and you should not ignore the request!

Voluntary Activities

For an activity to be considered voluntary, all of the below criteria must be satisfied:

No coach of your sport may be present during the activity.
You must not be required to report back any information on who was present or how the workout went. This also applies to any athletics department staff members who may be present (trainer, strength coach, etc.).
You must request the activity on your own. A member of our strength and conditioning staff may be present during a voluntary lift as long as they follow the rules above. Your sport coach may tell you when facilities are available, but they should not require attendance.
You should not be penalized for your lack of participation or rewarded for your participation in any way.

Note: A small handful of sports may utilize what is referred to as the "safety exception" which permits a coaching staff member to supervise a voluntary workout if the activity is dangerous should it be done wrong. Examples are rowing when on the water and field or jumping events in track and field. If you have any specific questions about this, please contact the compliance office.

Student-athlete Newsletters

Winter 2021 (PDF): Winter break tips, Name, Image and Likeness