GHSA reports approved transfers down nearly 46% after change in rules

In the 2024-2025 school year, 5,916 transfers were requested, and 4,115 were approved for an approval rate of 69.56%.

The 2025-2026 school year isn’t over, but the total number of transfer requests and the approval rate have dropped significantly. Up through early March of this school year, the GHSA has seen 4,254 transfer requests — 1,801 less than last year — and 2,225 were approved.

That’s an approval rate of 54.07%, over 15% lower than the 2024-2025 school year.

It’s also a significant drop compared to the last five years, which has seen roughly 6,000 transfer requests annually.

GHSA executive director Tim Scott said the organization was looking at transfers “a little harder and stronger,” causing schools to do the same. The GHSA’s new bylaws require more evidence than they used to, requesting documentation such as updated driver’s licenses, utility bills and lease agreements.

“I think we’re asking for information, and to be real honest with you, I’ve had athletic directors tell me that some of the parents have said, ‘I don’t want to fool with it,’ and so when you don’t submit the appropriate forms, you get denied,” Scott said. “If I ask you, ‘Hey, you need to show me that you vacated your residence,’ and you won’t show me that, I can’t approve you, then.”

Denied transfers can reapply for varsity eligibility on hardship appeals, claiming that they were forced to move to their new school zone because of circumstances outside their — and the school’s — control. Hardship appeals increased from 717 last year to 877 this year, but those appeals happen for many reasons beyond athletically motivated transfers.

The school year isn’t finished, but the GHSA’s latest numbers were produced after spring sports began, so most transfer athletes’ requests would already have been counted.

“I don’t think there’s any way we’ll get close to 5,900 transfers,” Scott said. “I don’t know how much it’ll be down, and we’ll see where it is at the end of the year, but I think we’re down probably 500 or 600 transfer (requests) from where we were last year at this time.”

Gwinnett County athletic director Jason Holcombe oversees 20 high schools, all of which have at least 1,800 students. Gwinnett County is one of the most populous counties in Georgia, and it also has some of the state’s top athletic programs.

Holcombe’s county produces hundreds of transfer requests every year, and he still saw a significant difference in the first football season since the new bylaws came into effect.

“Beforehand, the rules we had in place, they were specific, but they did not require the things that are required now to show that you have made a full legal move,” Holcombe said.

Holcombe still saw plenty of transfers this year, but he believes the new bylaws have made it harder to transfer for athletic reasons while maintaining a path for legal moves.

“We do live in a transient society, no doubt, but the number of legal moves being made are being made for the right reasons,” Holcombe said. “Parents get jobs, they move, and they’re showing why they’re moving and where they’re moving from, making them legitimate moves.”

Transfers play major roles in determining the state’s best teams in many sports. There is evidence of that in the recently crowned basketball champions.

Four of Wheeler’s six players who scored points in the Class 6A boys final victory last week transferred from other schools, according to annual transfer lists compiled by Sandy’s Spiel. Those included star forward Colben Landrew, a UConn signee who came from Thompson High in Alabama before his junior season.

Three starters plus the leading scorer who came off the bench for Hebron Christian, the Class 3A-A Private girls champion, transferred in this season. Gabby Minus, a Tennessee signee, transferred in the season before from Veterans.

The impact of fewer transfers is not known yet. Ahmand Tinker, executive director of the Minority Coaches Association of Georgia, says he will wait a couple years before judging it.

In some instances, Tinker said younger players don’t mind sitting out a year at a strong program where initial playing time would be limited anyway. He also pointed out the GHSA governs only transfers after the ninth grade. Freshmen transfers are eligible.

“Some transfers are playing JV for one year if they are younger, and others are getting around the rules in other ways,” he said. “Kids are transferring in middle school or entering the school as a freshman to beat the rule.”