Club Sports Eligibility
All student-athletes must meet the following Club Sports eligibility requirements at a minimum. If their governing board has further requirements, those should be adhered to as well.
Undergraduate Student-Athlete Eligibility:
- 2.0 cumulative GPA
- 67+% Completion Rate
- Full-Time Status (attempt 12 credits)
- Residential Status
- Actively Taking Classes during ALL dates of the semester
- Must have a 2.5+ GPA to be on 2 Club Sports Teams
Graduate Student-Athlete Eligibility:
- Good Standing with your Degree Program
- 67+% Completion Rate
- Full-Time Status (attempt 9 credits)
- Residential Status
- Actively Taking Classes during ALL dates of the semester
*Please note that Club Sports eligibility guides are ONE facet of your requirements. Each teams’ governing board may have specific requirements beyond Club Sports that you need to meet. For questions please contact Heath Grishaw, hrgrishaw2@liberty.edu.
If you do not meet the eligibility standards above but are still interested in joining a team please contact Donna Holland, dbholland@liberty.edu, for our appeal process if you are eligible for that.
Academic Resources
- In-House Professional Advising
- Early Registration
- Academic Workshops
- Tutoring
- Scheduling Assistance
- Study Hall
- Mentoring
- Travel Support
Compliance
If a student-athlete participated when paperwork is incomplete, they may be removed from the team roster for the rest of the semester. Insurance will only cover a student-athlete who complies with paperwork. If they are not on file with us, they are responsible for the cost of the medical treatment.
Team Restriction Policy
Student-athletes may only participate on two Club Sports teams at a time. To participate on more than one team, a student-athlete needs a 2.5+ GPA after his or her first semester. Should a student-athlete drop below a 2.5 GPA, they will need to select 1 of the 2 teams to remain on. If a student wishes to be on two teams BOTH coaches must approve the student to roster them.
TRAVEL
Travel Letter Policy
If a team is traveling, professors need to be notified at least 1 week prior to the departure date. Any assignments, tests, or quizzes due while the student-athlete is traveling are to be scheduled with the professor to make up the work prior to leaving the University. If a student-athlete travels without previously planning to complete missed assignments with their professor and/or without providing a travel letter to their professor, then it is in the professor’s scope to give a grade of “0” for any missed deadlines.
Convocation Excuse Policy
Convocation is held Wednesday and Friday each week. On campus students are required to attend convocation, off-campus students are not required but are welcome. On campus students are allowed one unexcused convocation. Students who miss convocation without an excused absence will be charged $25 per missed convocation for the first two offenses. After that, the charge goes up to $50 per offense. Convocation attendance is excused using the travel roster submitted at least 1 week in advance to the departure date and you are listed as traveling by your coach for the upcoming event.
Study Hall Excuse Policy
Required study hall hours are excused when a team is traveling Monday to Thursday (1 hour per day) and a travel roster has been received by the Academic Department at least 1 week prior to the departure date. If the travel roster is not received at least 1 week in advance, those student-athletes 6+ hours behind will not be able to use grace day (Monday) to make up time behind. They will not be authorized to compete or travel due to not being notified by Donna of their need to make up their time to earn eligibility.
STUDY HALL
The Liberty University Club Sports Study Hall program is designed to help ensure student-athletes succeed in their academics while maintaining eligibility within their sport. Liberty Club Sport returning student-athletes under a 2.5 cumulative GPA, new Freshmen and transfer student-athletes are required to attend study hall. If Freshman student-athletes achieve a 3.0 GPA during their first semester, they will not be required to attend study hall during their second semester. Transfer students who have earned at least a 2.5 GPA after their first semester will not be required to return to study hall if they achieve at least Sophomore status and continue to maintain above a 2.5 cumulative GPA. Current GPAs are recorded at the start of each semester and will be used to select those eligible for study hall. The general study hall requirements are included below:
Fall Semester – 4 hours required – FR, New Transfers, SO/JR/SR below a cumulative 2.5 GPA
Spring Semester –Tiered System based upon GPA or Completion Rate – FR below a 3.0, First Semester Freshman, new Transfers, SO/JR/SR below a cumulative 2.5 GPA
Spring Tiered System
<2.0 GPA 6 hours weekly
2.0 -2.2 GPA or <67% Completion Rate 5 hours weekly
2.2 – 2.5 GPA 4 hours weekly
Note: Student-athlete’s required study hall time in the spring is based first on GPA and then on Completion Rate.
Mid-semester grade changes due to online courses or postponed grade updates will not affect the study hall requirements of student-athletes.
Study hall is available throughout the fall and spring semesters. Hours of operation are 9:00am to 10:00pm Monday through Thursday, (closed for convocation Wednesday 10:00 am – 12:00 pm). Study hall hours are recorded each week beginning on Monday and ending on Thursday. Coaches and student-athletes will receive an official copy of the study hall report on Friday mornings. Student-athletes are required to sign in and sign out to receive credit for study hall. FAILURE to sign in or sign out will result in “0” credits for study hall (NO EXCEPTIONS). Student-athletes who present a doctor’s note will receive 1 hour off per date included on the note.
Consequences for Study Hall
- 6+ hours behind in study hall will result in not being allowed to practice, travel, or compete for the University until all 6+ hours are made up and the student-athlete returns to ‘0’ time owed.
- Example: Student-Athlete is 8.63 hours behind at the end of week 6. To be eligible, the student-athlete must complete 8.63 hours behind + 4 hours for week 7 for a total of 12.63 hours to regain eligible status.
- Hours carry over from semester to semester. Therefore, if a student-athlete falls behind in study hall hours by the end of the semester, they will be required to catch up on ALL hours the following semester. The above consequences will apply to the first day of classes after add/drop week for the new semester.
Tutoring
Tutoring is available for student-athletes through CASAS and will count toward their study hall requirements if they swipe in and out of their tutoring session. If a student-athlete attends tutoring with a Club Sports tutor, he/she will be required to swipe in and out of study hall to record their time in tutoring.
Workshops for Study Hall
Workshops are pre-approved educational seminars designed to enhance college success through academic and professional development presentation held at the LaHaye Ice Center. Student-athletes may choose to attend a workshop for the semester to earn 2 hours for study hall.
Forms will be provided following a workshop and must include a short summary of the presentation and describe how it relates to their future academic performance. All forms must be signed and approved by a study hall supervisor or Assistant Director (Donna Holland) to count toward study hall, credit will be applied to the week the form was turned in. Attendance will also be verified and if found to not have attended, the student-athlete will no longer be eligible for workshop credit during that semester.
MENTORING
All first semester freshman will be invited to mentoring with the goal of orientation for them to be completed in small groups through the Fall semester. The Assistant Director of Academic Advancement, Donna Holland, will select other student-athletes for mentoring based on their GPA and the previous semester completion rate. The coach will be informed of their specific students-athletes involved in mentoring. Student-athletes may volunteer for mentoring if they feel the help is needed. Mentoring is aimed at improving time management, providing studying tips, discovering tutoring needs, and enhancing accountability.
Attending mentoring will count toward 1 hour of Study Hall per week. If student-athletes miss a scheduled mentoring session, they will be required to complete all 4 hours of Study Hall for the week missed. Those on Academic Contract will be required to attend their weekly mentoring session. If they miss a session, they will need to sit out of participation with their team for the next week. If a student-athlete is 10 minutes late, the mentor has the prerogative to consider the session incomplete and not give credit to the student-athlete for the mentoring session.
If hours of Study Hall are lowered for travel, snow days, or sickness it will not affect the mentoring time off; i.e.: required 4 hours/week, 1 hour for travel is granted – Student-athlete must complete 3 hours of Study Hall even if they attend the mentoring session that week.
CONTACT
Donna Holland, dbholland@liberty.edu, Study Hall & Mentoring
Heath Grishaw, hrgrishaw2@liberty.edu, Eligibility, Compliance, & Travel
Sarah Kelly, semorris2@liberty.edu, Assistant Athletic Director of Academic Advancement