Re: Off season notes and news....
Branch campuses can operate individual athletic programs. The U California schools are all entities within the same same system with a blanket accreditation. Castelton, Johnson State, Vermont Tech, and Lyndon State are actually all part of Vermont State College - which is one school with several different campuses (many campuses are part of CCV). Unless students can be enrolled at more than one campus, there isn't an issue. When Norwich took over Vermont College in the 1980s the separate VC athletic program was shut down, because students were able to enroll in courses at either campus.
But even then, it's a bit murky.
There are situations where schools share the ability to attend classes at other schools. The four North Country schools (Potsdam State, Clarkson, SUNY Canton, and St. Lawrence) allowed you take up to two classes (I can't remember if it was per semester or year) at any other school that you were not matriculated at for the exact same cost as whatever your school's cost was (great if you were going from the State schools to the private ones). I took a class at Clarkson (yes, joecct, can you believe it?!) when I was attending Potsdam.
Now, before you say that's a part time deal, here's another example to complicate the situation.
Potsdam and Clarkson offer a 3/2 program. You go to Potsdam for three years and get a Computer Science or Math degree and then you go to Clarkson and get an Engineering degree. For the first three years, you are matriculated at Potsdam, but you still take classes at Clarkson. For the second two years, you are matriculated at Clarkson, but still take classes at Potsdam.
While I was at Potsdam, the captain of the hockey team, John Rowe, was in this program (he actually got a double major -- Comp Sci and Math -- from Potsdam along with an Engineering degree from Clarkson, and I think he did it all in
four years; who said hockey players are dumb...). After his third year, everyone, including himself, figured he was done playing hockey with Potsdam. They even honored him on Senior Night. However, they put a request in to the NCAA to allow him to continue playing at Potsdam. The NCAA granted the request, stating that since technically he was still getting a degree at Potsdam (and he wasn't finished with that degree until the entire five years was up, regardless of what school he was matriculated in) and he was still attending classes at Potsdam and because of the unique situation that Clarkson hockey was Division I, so his opportunity to compete for Clarkson was not practical. He played his fourth year of eligibility for Potsdam ... though, they did not honor him again at Senior Night. LOL
Then, a couple of years later, a swimmer did the same thing. Interestingly, that swimmer could have competed for Clarkson since they are D3 in all their other sports. Yet, the NCAA still decided for the swimmer, allowing him to compete for Potsdam in his fourth year of eligibility.
