Progress Toward Degree (PTD)
Student-athletes are encouraged to continuously advance through academic plans for earning degrees by meeting specific requirements.
Academic Eligibility
Returning student-athletes must meet the following criteria in order to participate in outside competition:
- Be in good academic standing;
- Be enrolled in at least 12 hours;
- Have earned at least nine PTD hours in the previous regular term (Fall or Spring);
- Have earned at least 18 PTD hours in the previous two regular terms (Fall and Spring);
- Have earned at least 24 PTD hours in the previous academic year (Fall, Spring, and Summer); and
- Have earned at least a 2.0 Institution grade point average.
Private Lessons
A student-athlete may receive compensation for teaching or coaching sports skills or techniques in his or her sport on a fee-for lesson basis, provided all compensation received is only for work actually performed and at a rate commensurate with the going rate. A student-athlete’s athletics reputation may never be used to promote the sale of a commercial product or service.
Drug Testing
Student-athletes are subject to random drug testing for street drugs and/or performance-enhancing substances as administered by DSU Sports Medicine.
Sports Wagering
Student-athletes are not permitted to participate in any manner of gambling activity for any version of any sport in which the NCAA conducts a championship. Wagering is when an individual agrees to give up anything of value in exchange for possibly gaining another item of value. Examples include but are not limited to certain fantasy leagues, score squares, and tournament bracket pools.
Extra Benefits
An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a representative of the institution's athletics interest to provide a student-athlete or his/her relatives/friends a benefit that is not generally available to other students and their relatives/friends.
Specifically, student-athletes may not accept the following unless they are available to the general student body:
- Special discounts, payment arrangements, or credits on purchases (e.g. airline ticket, clothing) or services (e.g. laundry, dry cleaning).
- Free or reduced-cost professional services (e.g. hair cut, legal services).
- Use of a credit card for personal reasons without charge or at a reduced cost.
- Free or reduced-cost services (e.g. movie tickets, dinners, use of a vehicle) from commercial agencies or free or reduced-cost admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations.
An institutional employee or representative of athletic interest may not provide a student-athlete with a loan of money, a guarantee of a bond, an automobile or use of an automobile, or a loan arrangement by signing/cosigning.
Additionally, student-athletes may not accept free or reduced-cost room and/or board in any location from an institutional employee or representative of athletic interest. Institutional employees or representatives of athletic interest shall not provide complimentary restaurant meals to student-athletes.
Student-athletes may not use the athletic department’s printers/copiers, fax machines, or long-distance phone codes.
Permission to Contact
As an enrolled student-athlete at Delta State, no contact with another institution’s staff member should occur without written permission from Athletic Compliance. In order to obtain permission to contact, email dgeorge@deltastate.edu. Note that a response could take up to 14 consecutive calendar days from receipt of the request. Head coaches will be notified and student-athletes are expected to complete a brief exit survey before permission to contact is granted or denied. It is the department’s general practice to deny permission to contact active, affiliate, provision, or conditional members of the Gulf South Conference.
