A. Academic Eligibility
B. Years of Eligibility
C. CIS Participation as a Professional Athlete
D. Transfers
In order to compete in OUA/CIS and alternate university leagues, each student-athlete must comply with eligibility requirements.
It is the responsibility of the student-athlete to be aware of all eligibility rules.
Complete versions can be found on the CIS website (www.cis-sic.ca) and the OUA website (www.oua.ca). Please contact Steve Manchur at steve.manchur@utoronto.ca for more information.
All student-athletes must be cleared by the intercollegiate program office prior to starting any competitive season. For further questions, clarifications or for a complete list of eligibility requirements, contact Steve Manchur at
steve.manchur@utoronto.ca or Beth Ali at beth.ali@utoronto.ca.
A. Academic Eligibility
Rules for OUA and CIS Athletes
CIS sports are those which are offered by both the OUA and CIS and lead to both OUA and CIS championships.
Be a full-time student and/or registered in 3 full courses, 6 half courses or 18 semester hours. A student-athlete must be enrolled in a minimum of 3 courses (9 credit hours or equivalent) in the same term in which they are competing.
Each continuing student-athlete must have successfully completed 3 full courses (or equivalent) in the previous academic year (Sept. 1 to Aug. 31) they were a student-athlete in order to be eligible for competition during the following season. Athletes may take summer courses in order to qualify, as long as the summer courses are fully recognized by the University of Toronto.
If there are circumstances within a student’s academic program which would warrant an exception to A and/or B and in which the University continues to declare the student a full-time student (e.g. graduate student), the student can be declared in good standing and therefore eligible to compete.
All student-athletes must successfully register for each team through the new Varsity Blues Registration System (VBRS).
Academic records are checked on a weekly basis. A student-athlete will not be permitted to compete if he/she reduces his or her course load below the eligibility requirement.
Penalties for non-compliance with any eligibility rule may include team and/or individual disqualification and financial consequences.
B. Years of Eligibility
CIS sports – basketball, curling cross country, football, field hockey, ice hockey, women’s rugby, soccer, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling – are limited to 5 years of eligibility. All other sports have no limitation to the number of years of eligibility. In the sport of football, those 5 years must be used within an 8- or 7-year period following the earlier of high school graduation or the completion of high school eligibility (for Quebec and non-Quebec high school graduates respectively).
A year of eligibility is consumed:
- when your name appears on the playing roster (or equivalent) of two or more regular season competitions if your team does not have an exhibition schedule. If your team does play in exhibition, eligibility is consumed for a single regular season competition. The exception to this rule is within the sports of football and women’s rugby;
- for CIS exhibition and playoff competition, CEGEP participation, as well as national team and professional participation. Please consult the intercollegiate program office for further details;
- for men’s basketball, hockey and football sport-specific regulations related to non-CIS participation. Please consult the intercollegiate program office for further details;
- within related jurisdictions, such as the CCAA or NCAA, in accordance with that jurisdiction’s rules; and,
REMEMBER: Your name appearing on a gamesheet or entry form constitutes your participation in that game/event, even if you don’t step onto the court/field/ice.
Injury: Whether or not a student-athlete consumes a year of eligibility after being injured early in a season will be determined on an individual basis.
Contact Steve Manchur at steve.manchur@utoronto.ca for more information.
C. CIS Participation as a Professional Athlete
In CIS sports, a professional athlete is defined as any student-athlete who at any time played in a professional and or semi-professional league recognized by the CIS. All student-athletes that are deemed to be ‘professional’ must be cleared prior to competition. For OUA sports, student-athletes must have an “amateur status” in order to be eligible for participation.
D. Transfers
A CIS student-athlete who transfers to another academic institution is not eligible to compete for one calendar year of competition prior to competing in interuniversity athletics.
Exceptions:
A CIS student-athlete who has completed a degree at a CIS institution may transfer to another CIS institution and will not be required to sit out for a year if they enroll in a graduate or first professional degree program at a school different from the one he/she attended the previous year. All eligibility of transfers must be confirmed with the intercollegiate program office prior to competing.
In the sports of swimming, track and cross country, a student-athlete may transfer after having competed one year at a previous institution, without a penalty.
In OUA sports only, student-athletes may transfer from one institution to another without penalty, provided all other eligibility requirements are met.
