Guide
What do official visit, unofficial visit, verbal commitment, and walk-on actually mean?
These four terms have specific NCAA definitions that affect what a school can pay for, what promises are binding, and what roster spot your child actually holds.
Updated Aug 31, 2026
Official visit: the school pays
An official visit is any visit to a college campus paid for by the NCAA school hosting your child. Before a Division I or II official visit, your child must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center, be on that school's institutional request list, and send the school a copy of their high school transcript. Each NCAA school may extend only one official visit to your child. Your child may take official visits to as many different NCAA schools as they like after the first permissible date in their division and sport.
Unofficial visit: your family pays
An unofficial visit is any visit to a college campus paid for by you or your family. Your child may take an unlimited number of unofficial visits. In Divisions I and II, each visit must occur after the first permissible date for the sport. The NCAA does not publish a figure for what families typically spend on unofficial visits.
Verbal commitment: real interest, not a binding deal
A verbal commitment is when your child verbally agrees to play sports for a college before signing or being eligible to sign an athletics aid agreement. The NCAA is direct on this point: the commitment is not binding on your child or the school. Either side can walk away. The binding moment is the official commitment, which is when your child signs an athletics aid agreement for a scholarship with a Division I or II school.
Walk-on and preferred walk-on: two different situations
A walk-on is someone who is not typically recruited by a school, does not receive a scholarship, but becomes a member of one of the school's athletics teams. A preferred walk-on is guaranteed a spot on the roster. 'Preferred' status means a college coach wants your child on the team but does not have a scholarship for them. The NCAA does not publish figures on how often preferred walk-ons later receive scholarships, so we cannot tell you what to expect there.
What this means for your child's roster spot
Our database covers 1,017 college programs' 2025-26 rosters. Division I teams list 15 players on average, Division II teams list 16, and Division III teams list 17. Those are small rosters. A preferred walk-on spot is guaranteed, but a walk-on spot is not — and neither is a verbal commitment. Until your child signs an athletics aid agreement, no promise is enforceable.
What this page is based on
Every rule stated above was read from one of these documents, not from memory. Open them and check us.
- Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete 2025-26
NCAA · the body that sets the rule · read Aug 31, 2026
To compete at an NCAA Division I or II school, your player must complete a set number of core courses in specific subjects and earn a qualifying core-course GPA; standardized test scores are no longer required by the NCAA for either division.
GuideHow does the NCAA transfer portal work, and what happens to players who enter it?When a college player notifies their school that they want to transfer, the school enters the player's name in the NCAA's centralized transfer portal database, which signals their availability and allows coaches at other schools to make contact — but entering the portal does not guarantee landing at a new school.
Data studyWhat a college basketball roster looks like: size and position mix by levelD1 rosters list 15 players on average, D2 16, D3 17 — and guards are about two-thirds of every roster. From 1,017 programs' 2025–26 rosters, with the walk-on and redshirt caveat every parent should know.