Revised 8/25/07 (Jeff Kula (NCD), David Samuels (College Elig. Comm. Chair), Will Deaver (Championship Director), Matthew Bourland (Championship Series Manager)
These rules were first updated in the summer of 2006 and were renewed without change in the summer of 2007 to apply for the 2008 UPA College Championship Series.
- Prologue:
The intent of these rules is to keep the College Series just that -- a college series. The heart 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:
- 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."
- S/he must be considered at least a half-time student by his/her school registrar (two (2) full time classes or equivalent).
- The half-time requirement is waived for students who are BOTH:
- taking at least the minimum courseload required to graduate, where "minimum courseload" is at least one class; and
- going to graduate at the conclusion of the spring term in the current year.
- 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
- Graduate students engaged in research, teaching, or thesis production which will lead towards the awarding of a degree qualify under this rule.
- 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.
- Students seeking a second Bachelor's Degree must have full-time status to be eligible, unless Rule II.B.1 (the “light load” rule) is to be invoked, in which case this requirement is waived.
- The above registration requirements must be applicable throughout the entire spring semester at a school on a semester system, or throughout either the entire fall or winter quarter, plus the following spring quarter at a school on a quarter system.
- 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. This excludes participation in sanctioned events while in school prior to high school graduation.
- If a player participated in an event sanctioned by a national governing body while in high school (or before), and graduated high school in 2001 or earlier, initial national governing body participation date is taken to be June 1st of the year of high school graduation.
- If a player participated in an event sanctioned by a national governing body while in high school (or before), and graduated high school in 2002 or later, initial national governing body participation date is taken as the earlier of: June 1st of the year after high school graduation or the player's first post-high school national governing body sanctioned event.
- Each player must be a UPA member in good standing at all times during the Series.
- Each player must produce a picture ID upon demand of the tournament director or UPA official at a sanctioned event.
- TEAMS must meet ALL of the following requirements:
- Each player's eligibility must apply at the same college or university (or the same UPA approved scholastic consortium). If the school has multiple branches or locations, all players must be attending the same branch or location.
- Each team must have a designated Spokesperson who will be responsible for the integrity, completeness, and timeliness of the team's Roster.
- Each team must submit a completed Official UPA College Roster form BEFORE playing in any Series event. The Roster must meet all of the following requirements:
- It must be BOTH signed and sealed by the registrar of the school.
- It must contain the name of the school, and branch or location if applicable.
- It must contain the team Spokesperson's mailing address, phone number, e-mail address and signature.
- Each player on the Roster must be a UPA member in good standing at all times during the Series.
- 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.
- 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: - The team Spokesperson or the player in question may submit an inquiry to the College Eligibility Committee via its online form on the college web site.
- The inquiry form must be filled out completely and submitted by the date on the form. Late requests may require a fee and may not be considered, at the discretion of the Eligibility Committee.
- The Form will be reviewed by the Eligibility Committee (or a proxy approved by the eligibilty committee), and responses e-mailed.
- 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.
