RECRUITING VISITATION POLICY
Campus visits are an excellent opportunity for prospective student-athletes (PSA’s) to learn about life at UMass Boston. Below is the process which the UMass Boston Athletic Department and the NCAA created to ensure all visits comply with NCAA regulations.
The NCAA defines a recruiting visit in two ways. An Official Visit to a member institution by a PSA is a visit financed in whole or in part by the member institution, or by a representative of the institution's athletic interests. An Unofficial Visit to a member institution by a PSA is a visit made at the PSA’s own expense.
OFFICIAL VISITS
Please note that for official visits, Bylaw 13.6.1 notes that an institution may finance only one 48-hour visit to its campus for a PSA, which may not occur prior to January 1 of their junior year of high school. Other relevant bylaws and guidelines are below:
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Bylaw 13.6.1.2.1 - Transfer Student: If a student-athlete attending a four-year institution desires to transfer and that institution provides the permission required (per Bylaw 13.1.1.2), it is permissible for a second institution to provide the student-athlete one official visit to that institution's campus.
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Bylaw 13.6.2 - Length of Official Visit: An official visit to an institution shall not exceed 48 hours. A prospective student-athlete may remain in the locale in which the institution is located after the permissible 48-hour period for reasons unrelated to the official visit, provided that at the completion of the 48-hour visit, the individual departs the institution's campus, and the institution does not pay any expenses thereafter, including the cost of return transportation to the prospective student-athlete's home. Additionally, if the prospective student-athlete does not return home before attending the institution, the one-way transportation to the campus would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13.5.4, which prohibits transportation to enroll.
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(a) A maximum of $40 for each day of the visit to cover all actual costs of entertaining the prospective student-athlete (and the prospective student-athlete's parents, guardian(s), spouse or individual of a comparable relationship) and the student host(s), excluding the cost of meals and admission to campus athletics events. These funds may not be used for the purchase of souvenirs such as T-shirts or other institutional mementos. It is permissible to provide the student host with an additional $20 per day for each additional prospective student-athlete the host entertains. Neither the student host(s) nor the prospective student-athlete may contribute funds toward the cost of the entertainment;
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Bylaw 13.6.5.6 - Meals on Official Visit: The cost of actual meals, not to exceed three per day, on the official visit for a prospective student-athlete and the individuals accompanying the prospective student-athlete need not be included in the $40-per-day entertainment expense. A dessert or after-meal snack also may be excluded.
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Bylaw 13.5.2.1 - Transportation on Official Paid Visit: A member institution may pay the prospective student-athlete's actual round-trip transportation costs for their official visit to its campus, provided a direct route between the prospective student-athlete's home and the institution's campus is used.
For official visits, please adhere to the following guidelines:
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Failure to follow these guidelines and policies may result in sanctions on overnight recruiting visits for that sport. PSAs in violation of university policy or state law may be denied admission to the University, lose eligibility at UMass Boston, and receive (along with parents) warnings/sanctions from the Dean of Students’ office.
Internal Procedure for an official visit:
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A head coach must notify the Compliance Office of a prospective student-athlete’s official visit at least four days in advance of the official visit date. Upon notification, the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Student-Athlete Development will assign the appropriate documentation for the visit. All required paperwork must be completed and submitted to the Compliance Office no later than four days prior to the scheduled visit. This timeline ensures that essential arrangements, such as meal tickets, parking passes, and entertainment funds, can be processed and distributed through the appropriate channels. The Compliance Office will digitize and maintain all official visit paperwork on file for record-keeping and auditing purposes. Please see below for the list of required official visit paperwork:
UNOFFICIAL VISITS
There is no time restriction on when a prospective student-athlete can make an unofficial visit to an institution. Therefore, a PSA can make an unlimited number of unofficial visits to a member institution at their own expense any time before or after January 1 of their junior year in high school (Bylaw 13.7.1). During an unofficial visit, the institution may not pay any expenses or provide any entertainment, except complimentary admissions to the prospective student-athlete and the individuals accompanying the prospective student-athlete to a home athletics event at any facility in which the institution's intercollegiate team practices or competes. A PSA may not receive transportation for an unofficial visit, other than to view a practice or competition site and other institutional facilities when accompanied by an institutional staff member (Bylaw 13.5.1). An institution may not provide transportation to attend one of the institution’s home contests (on or off campus) during an unofficial visit.
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Bylaw 13.7.2.1.1 - Meals: An institution may provide a prospective student-athlete with a meal in the institution's on-campus dining facility during an unofficial visit. An institution may provide a meal in an off-campus dining facility when all on-campus dining facilities are closed, provided the institution can certify that it is the institution's normal policy to provide such a meal under similar circumstances to all prospective students (including nonathletes) visiting the campus. Please follow the same protocol as an official visit when requesting a meal ticket to provide a meal on an unofficial visit.
