I’ve gotten a lot of questions asking what the differences are between official and unofficial visits so that’s what today’s post is going to discuss. Official visits have a few rules that have to be followed whereas unofficial visits are a bit more relaxed. Below I’ve detailed some of the major points of each one but I really recommend that you do your own research so you understand what’s permitted and what isn’t.
The most noticeable difference between official and unofficial visits is that during official visits the university covers the expenses of the student-athletes. They’re allowed to pay for transportation to and from the university for you but not your parents, meaning they’ll have to pay their own way if they accompany you. If you stay off campus with your parents then the university can cover your hotel and up to three meals per day but if you stay on campus with a team member then the university will not pay for hotel and food for your parents.
In addition to transportation, hotels, and food, the university can also provide you with up to three tickets for home athletic events. If you can manage it, I highly recommend going during football or basketball season and seeing if you can get tickets to one of the big rivalry games. It’s a great way to see what the atmosphere on campus is like, in addition to having a chance to interact with the general student body in a more realistic setting.
When you go on official visits they’re limited to only 48 hours, which extends from the time you arrive on campus to the time you leave. If your stay is longer than 48 hours then the university can’t cover the cost of your travel home. During this time you’ll attend a few classes with your host and go out on the water to observe a practice, amongst other things.
You’re allowed to take five total visits but you’re only allowed to make one official visit to each school you go to, meaning that of those five each one must be at a different school. You can visit as many times as you want but the university will only cover your expenses one time. Keep in mind that the number of visits is five combined, meaning you can go to three D1 schools and two D2 schools or five to D1 schools or five to D2 schools, but you can’t go to five D1 schools and five D2 schools.
Unofficial visits, like I said earlier, are much more lax in terms of rules. While you’re responsible for covering all of your expenses, you’re allowed to visit campus as many times as you want in addition to there being no limits on how many schools you can visit across all the divisions. You can also go at any time during your high school career. The last thing is that, like with official visits, you can’t visit campus during dead periods.
That covers just about all of it but for more info on recruiting and to see some questions other people have asked, be sure to check out the “recruiting” and “official visit” tags.