Here are the facts about NCAA Official Visits, per NCAA rules, guidelines, and bylaws:

• You can only make one official visit to any given college.


• You can only make an official visit during your senior year of high school.


• You can make no more than 5 total official visits.


• Official visits can only last 48 hours.


• The college team can pay for your travel and lodging.


• You may receive free admission to the team's games, but you can only sit in the general seating area.


• Your host can be a player on the team, who receives a set amount ($30) to cover your expenses while you're on campus.


• You cannot use the $30 to buy souvenirs or schwag.

3 Things You Haven't Heard About NCAA Official Visits

With the nitty gritty out of the way, here's the inside scoop on NCAA Official Visits:

1. They're becoming more of a formality - Face it, college teams are poor. So teams are only likely to bring their absolute top recruits to campus for NCAA official visits. In many cases, top athletes are making verbal commitments to colleges before their senior year begins. Hence, many official visits are more of a victory lap for a recruit who has already verbally committed than anything else.


2. NCAA Unofficial Visits are a powerful tool - For athletes who take control of the NCAA Division I recruiting process, unofficial visits are a extremely effective way to communicate to a college coach that you're serious about his school. Instead of waiting around for an official visit offer, take an unofficial visit.


3. Many teams don't have the money - Just because a team technically is allowed under NCAA rules to offer official visits doesn't mean that they have the resources to do so. In fact there are very few teams that will be able to pay for your travel (unless you live in the next town over!) So you may find that if you do go on an official visit, they won't cover all your expenses.sd



Tip for CaptainU Users: Use the Mail tool to communicate directly with college coaches and plan NCAA Official Visits.

Sign in or if you don't have an account, Create one now start communicating with college coaches.

Find the college where you'd like to play