Which colleges and universities have reported transgender student-athletes?
Executive summary
Reporting shows only a small number of colleges have publicly documented or been publicly linked to transgender student‑athletes, and much of the available information names individual cases or school policies rather than a comprehensive list; the NCAA itself has said it knows of fewer than ten transgender college athletes among roughly 510,000 student‑athletes [1], while advocacy and research groups stress that anecdotal counts are very low [2]. Institutions that appear repeatedly in contemporary reporting include a handful of public and private universities that either hosted known transgender competitors (historical examples) or were named in media coverage about policy compliance: Cornell University, Ithaca College, George Washington University, Bates College, Purchase College, San Jose State University and the University of Pennsylvania [3] [4] [5].
1. Where the named instances come from — documented competitors and historical examples
Institutional and organizational histories list specific, named cases: NCAA archival material cites early examples such as a rugby player at Cornell University , an Ithaca College competitor and Kye Allums, who played women’s basketball at George Washington University (class of 2012) as part of the public record of trans athletes in college sports [3]. Longform reporting compiling trans athletes over time has also named athletes who competed openly at smaller liberal‑arts programs such as Bates College (track & field) and Purchase College (volleyball), among others [4].
2. Schools cited in news coverage about compliance and controversy
Contemporary news stories about changing federal and association rules have singled out particular universities as focal points: BBC reporting about the NCAA policy shift noted San Jose State University and the University of Pennsylvania among institutions flagged in that coverage as being scrutinized or “suspected of allowing” transgender athletes to compete under differing policy interpretations [5]. Those mentions are in the context of rapid policy change and investigations tied to federal Title IX guidance, not a journalistic inventory of every trans athlete at those campuses [5].
3. Institutional policy lists versus confirmed athletes
Campus‑level policy inventories capture which colleges have “trans‑inclusive” athletic procedures but do not equate to confirmed athletes; Campus Pride reported at least 63 colleges and universities with trans‑inclusive athletic policies as of a 2024 compilation, a metric that signals policy posture rather than the presence of competing trans athletes [6]. The TransAthlete resource similarly catalogs institutional policies and notes variation across NCAA, NAIA and conference rules, underscoring that policy presence is not direct evidence of individual competitors [7].
4. Scale: the reported numbers and the limits of the data
Multiple organizations caution that the population of transgender college athletes is very small and poorly captured by existing data: the NCAA’s own president testified to knowing “fewer than ten” transgender college student‑athletes among some 510,000 athletes [1], and the Williams Institute emphasizes that current data limitations make firm counts difficult but that anecdotal estimates remain very low [2]. That scarcity of confirmed, publicly reported cases helps explain why media coverage often focuses on a handful of high‑profile instances and on policy shifts rather than on a broad roster of named schools.
5. Why the list will never be fully settled in public reporting
The landscape is volatile because governing bodies and courts are changing rules: the NCAA revised its participation policy on February 6, 2025, narrowing women’s competition to those assigned female at birth and allowing other accommodations, a shift tied in reporting to a presidential executive order and broader legal pressure [8] [9] [5]. Parallel NAIA and state actions, plus Supreme Court litigation over state bans, create both legal incentives for schools to change public posture and privacy incentives for athletes to remain unnamed, meaning public lists will always undercount actual participants [10] [11] [12].
Conclusion — what is answerable and what is not
Based on the available reporting, confirmed or widely reported examples of colleges with known transgender student‑athletes include Cornell University, Ithaca College, George Washington University, Bates College, Purchase College, San Jose State University and the University of Pennsylvania, while many other institutions have trans‑inclusive policies but no publicly documented competing athletes [3] [4] [5] [6]. Precise, up‑to‑date counts of which campuses currently have competing transgender student‑athletes cannot be produced from these sources because data are sparse, privacy‑sensitive and rapidly changing amid national policy shifts [1] [2] [8].