The NCAA has done a fairly good job of getting the word out about what the requirements are to be an 
academic qualifier. Less well known is the process prospects must go through to get that designation and their amateur certification from the NCAA Eligibility Center.
1. Register with the Eligibility Center
This might seem self-explanatory, but to be certified as a qualifier and an amateur by the NCAA Eligibility Center (formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse), a prospect must first register. Registration involves requesting an account, providing contact information, giving details about your high school attendance, answering an amateurism questionnaire, and paying a fee. This is the longest and most involved part of the process for prospects and their parents, but it is also just the beginning.
2. Send Required Academic Information
It can be slightly confusing exactly what the Eligibility Center needs to certify you as an academic qualifier. The short answer is that the NCAA needs your high school transcript and an SAT or ACT score.
The longer answer starts with the NCAA’s two types of “complete” files. A file is complete and ready for preliminary certification if you have provided all transcripts from all high schools you have attended through 11th grade and an SAT or ACT score. A file is complete and ready for final certification if you have provided all transcripts from all high schools you have attended through 12th grade, one of those transcripts shows you have graduated from high school, and you have sent an SAT or ACT score.
All information must come directly from the source. Transcripts must come directly from your high school(s) or in sealed envelopes and test scores must come directly from the testing agency (College Board or ACT). And if you take even one class at a school, like during summer school or through an online program, that’s another transcript that must be sent to the Eligibility Center.
3. Complete All Tasks
The staff at the Eligibility Center will assign tasks to prospects during the certification process. All prospects will be assigned a set of standard tasks. Some of those tasks will be marked as complete automatically, like when a transcript arrives at the Eligibility Center. Others must be manually marked as complete by the prospect on the Eligibility Center website. All notices of these tasks will be sent to the email a prospect gives to the Eligibility Center, so the email address used should be one that is checked frequently.
In some cases, a prospect will be signed additional tasks. Those tasks are normally requests for additional information, additional documents, or to answer questions. Prospects likely to receive additional tasks are international prospects, elite athletes, prospects who have attended multiple high schools, prospects who have taken online or nontraditional courses, and prospects who have repeated a course.
4. Request Final Certification
Requesting final certification is normally the last thing a prospect does with the Eligibility Center. The request can be made starting April 1 before a prospect starts college if entering in the fall, or October 1 if entering midyear. The request requires a prospect to affirm that all information provided is accurate and complete. The file is then locked and no further changes to a prospect’s information or amateurism questionnaire can be made (transcripts and test scores can still be sent).
5. Be Added to an Institutional Request List
This step is listed last not because it happens later in the process but because prospects cannot do it on their own. Before a prospect’s file is reviewed at the Eligibility Center, a Division I or Division II school must request it be reviewed by adding the prospect to an Institutional Request List or IRL. Every year, roughly half of the prospects who register with the Eligibility Center are never certified, many because they are never added to an IRL.
Prospects need to remember: the Eligibility Center does not help you get recruited. You do need to be working on getting certified during the recruiting process because certain recruiting activities, like taking an official visit or receiving a written scholarship offer, require you to have registered with the Eligibility Center and for a school to place you on its IRL. But it is not a place where coaches go looking for athletes to recruit, it’s a place where coaches ask compliance officers to look for the athletes they are already recruiting.
Prospects should also remember that only NCAA Division I and Division II athletes need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Division III athletes do not need to register and the NAIA has its own eligibility center. Keep this in mind before spending the $65-$95 it costs to register with the Eligibility Center.
Do you still have questions about the eligibility process? Just ask us in the comment section below, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+!
Great information! Thank you . I am looking for an NCAA school with womens wrestling
The NCAA does not sponsor women’s wrestling as a sport, although there are some schools who have it as a varsity sport. Here’s one list I found: http://wrestlegirl.com/womensteams.htm
What if my final was certified as non qualifier for D1 and qualifier for D2. What are the steps to become eligible for D1 schools in the following year?
It depends on how close you were to being a qualifier. If you were missing one core course or just short on the GPA/test score, taking additional courses and retaking the SAT/ACT in a postgraduate year is an option. If you were further off, you’ll need to either attend a four-year school as a nonqualifier for a year (which means no practice, competition, or aid) or go to a junior college. If you go the junior college route, you’ll need to probably spend two years at the JC and get your associates degree. If you start at a four-year college, be careful because many NCAA Division I conferences have rules that make you permanently ineligible in the conference if you enroll there as a freshman nonqualifier.
if you are a juco transfer who has a AA degree transfering to a D1, do you still need to send your SAT scores to eligibility center?
You don’t necessarily need to, but you will need to register anyway, and many schools will ask you to get certified anyway. It would be worth it to just send the information.
I was going to go to a d1 college then i tore my acl my senior season how do i play football now?
Are you still planning on attending the DI school you mentioned? Do you start this fall? You could still play for them once you recover, make sure to talk to the coach about your options. Otherwise, you can start looking into other schools to play for, or use a local community college team to help you recover, get back your strength, and transfer once you have graduated.
If you cannot play as a freshman, be sure to keep your medical documentation. It will be useful for getting a medical redshirt or sixth year down the road if you need it.
Are D3 schools listed w/ NCAA. Where do you find a list of D3 schools that offer Football scholorships.
Have you looked at our College Coaches Database? We have a full list of college football programs with the coaches contact information. You can create a free account here and search for schools http://www2.athleticscholarships.net/athletic/customers/registrationForm . Let me know if you have any questions.
What I’m supposed to do if I’m from some little country in Europe? Them NCAA folks be hating on foreign players and working too slow with them…
The key to getting through the NCAA quickly is making sure the coach who is recruiting you has placed you on their Intent to Request List (IRL). If you have only submitted your information but no coach has requested it, the NCAA will never process your documents. Do you have a coach requesting your NCAA information? Has their athletic department contacted the NCAA about you?
Thank you for your question.
My daughter is going in 12th grade this year, I send her ACT scores that I have, what about her GPA and transcripts, or do I wait for Senior year to submit.
Send her transcripts now, through 11th grade. If a school has added you to the IRL, you can get an preliminary evaluation, although it will take a while now that we’re into certifying freshmen for the fall. That preliminary evaluation could even result in being certified as an Early Academic Qualifier, which means all that is left to do is finish your amateurism certification and send a final transcript. But it counts as being a qualifier.
how old do i have to be to get my clearing house
If you plan on playing Division I sports, you should register after your sophomore year of college. You will get certified after you finish high school.
what happens if i register before my sophmore year
Registering before your sophomore year isn’t necessary. It won’t hurt your recruiting, but it won’t help it either. Before your sophomore year, it is better to spend your time contacting coaches and making a highlight film.
ok thanks for the info
What’s the best way to get my film to colleges?
You should upload your film to a video-sharing website like YouTube and email the link to college coaches. Only when they request complete game footage should you send a disc through the mail.
I have been placed on 1 school’s IRL list and am cleared….. is it necessary for each school interested in me to place me on their own IRL list as well?
Once one coach has requested your application to be cleared, it will be available to be seen by any other coach. In short, you only have to be placed on one school’s IRL to be cleared to play at any other DI or DII school.
I understand that part – thanks – but guess I didn’t word the question correctly…..
In order for a school to offer me an official visist and/or scholarship – do I have to be on THEIR IRL list? thanks
Yes the school will need to have you on their IRL before they can offer you an official visit and scholarship.
thank you! :)
what if your a 4-2-4 transfer and on the NCAA clearinghouse website its says your amateurism is certified but your academics is not certified. can you still practice with the team?
You will need to check with your athletic department and your coach. Generally, practice is okay but games not games.
How long does it typically take for the NCAA Eligibility Center to receive transcripts requested online (through 11th grade)
It depends what year in school you are and if your information is being requested by college coaches. The Eligibility Center prioritizes athletes by grad year, your sport and by the timing of the requests from college coaches. What year in school are you? Have college coaches requested your information from the NCAA?
It’s actually for my son who is a Junior. I did the requests for the transcripts online for his current Hogh School and one other school that he attended. I just wanted a timeframe in which the Eligibility Center usually gets those back from the Guidance Counslelors once they respond.
It depends on the method used to send them. The Eligibility Center uses a number of electronic systems. Those are transferred instantly. Overnight mail straight to the Eligibility Center is delivered and processed every day. The Eligibility Center has a regular mail address that many schools use when students request documents to be sent. Documents sent to that address can take a couple of weeks to be processed.
Give it an extra day or two, then call the Eligibility Center. Sometimes documents make it to the Eligibility Center but cannot be matched properly with a student’s file. If it has been longer than a week or so, call and tell the Eligibility Center the documents have been sent. Customer service can then look into it.