Transfers at a glance

The Minnesota State High School League oversees student eligibility with transfer rules established by its nearly 500 member schools. Here are some findings from statistics it maintains:

How many transfers? About 2,400 students transferred into Minnesota high schools so far this school year, mostly from in-state schools.. Another quarter involved students from other countries.

Changing homes, open enrollment: Of 1,364 intra-state transfers this school year, 481 were made under the state's open enrollment guidelines. Another 427 stemmed from families changing residences.

Typical outcomes: A transfer of a student's eligibility for sports is first considered by the incoming school's activities director, who usually grants varsity eligibility. The high school league agreed about 92 percent of the time this year. The league overruled the school's varsity approval for 108 students.

Fewer appeals, more often denied: In the first school year after the league tightened its eligibility rules in 2007, appeals were heard in 206 cases and 58 percent were approved. This year there have been only 139 appeals so far, but more were denied (58) than approved (47). Other cases are in progress or incomplete. Denials exceeded approvals in the previous two school years as well.

Bigger implications: Schools have paid dearly for using athletes later deemed ineligible because of policy violations. Prairie Seeds Academy of Brooklyn Park was ousted from the 2012 Class 1A boys' soccer state tournament. In 2014, Achiever Academy in Vadnais Heights forfeited its girls' hockey section championship game hours before faceoff. Last summer, East Ridge forfeited two seasons' worth of football victories, including section titles.