12.8.4 Hardship Waiver. A student-athlete may be granted an additional year of competition by the conference or the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement for reasons of "hardship." Hardship is defined as an incapacity resulting from an injury or illness that has occurred under all of the following conditions: (Revised: 1/10/92 effective 8/1/92, 1/14/97, 8/1/97, 4/26/01 effective 8/1/01, 11/1/01, 4/3/02, 8/8/02, 3/10/04, 5/11/05, 9/18/07, 11/1/07 effective 8/1/08, 4/24/08, 7/31/14, 6/30/22 effective 8/1/22 for injuries and illnesses occurring on or after 8/1/22)

(a) The incapacitating injury or illness occurs in one of the four seasons of intercollegiate competition at any two-year or four-year collegiate institutions or occurs after the first day of classes in the student-athlete's senior year in high school;

(b) The injury or illness occurs prior to the first contest or date of competition of the second half of the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship in that sport and results in incapacity to compete for the remainder of that playing season; and

(c) The injury or illness occurs when the student-athlete has not participated in more than three contests or dates of competition or 30 percent of the maximum number of contests or dates of competition of the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship as set forth in Bylaw 17 for the applicable sport plus one contest or date of competition, whichever is greater.