NCAA Eligibility

Who Needs to know about NCAA College Eligibility?

  • Potential student-athletes who are planning to participate in NCAA collegiate sports after high school.
  • Athletes that are looking to participate in NCAA Division I athletics.
  • Athletes that are looking to participate in NCAA division II athletics.

What will you need to become Eligible?

NCAA Eligibility Rules State that student-athletes will need to meet athletic and academic requirements for the division they wish to compete in/ Requirements will include:

What are the Core Course Requirements with the NCAA?

NCAA colleges require prospective student-athletes to complete and pass what they have titled “core courses” in order to be eligible to compete at the NCAA division I and division II college level. In addition to completing required core courses, potential recruits will also have to maintain at least a 2.0 GPA for course courses (which is subject to increase with new NCAA requirements)

Division I

Athletes must earn a minimum GPA in select core courses and a combined SAT or ACT that matches the core courses GPA on a sliding scale.

Division II

Athletes will also need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center, but will only be required to meet minimum requirements in terms of GPA and ACT or SAT test scores.

Division III

Student-athletes planning to play at this level will not need to register with the NCAA Eligibility center. These student-athletes will be required to meet and qualify for collegiate sports directly through each college.

Recruiting Fact “There are 335 NCAA Division I member schools?”

When to begin Focusing on NCAA Eligibility?

  • Student-athletes will need to begin thinking about their athletic future when they begin ninth grade. This is when student- athletes can meet with their academic counselors to ensure that they are taking the correct college-prep courses. NCAA division I and division II levels require that students pass all required core courses.
  • If you are not sure of where you would like to attend college, but know that you would like to participate in sports than hold off on registering with the NCAA eligibility center until you are sure.

NCAA Eligibility Clearinghouse/ Center

The NCAA Eligibility Center, formally known as the NCAA Eligibility Clearinghouse is where recruits will need to register and be cleared in order to participate in college sports. College sports programs will be unable to offer Division I and II recruits athletic scholarships until they have registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center.

Each of the three NCAA divisions have separate NCAA eligibility Rules in which potential recruits are required to meet. Student-athletes need to decide which Division level they will be best matched for in order to determine which NCAA eligibility Rules they will fall under.

Recruiting Fact: Division II Schools tend to be smaller than Division I schools and are made up of 52% public institutions.

Athletes who are serious about getting recruited will need to do more than just registering with the NCAA eligibility center. Athletes need to keep in mind that registering with the eligibility center is only necessary if they are planning to compete at the NCAA division I or division II level.

College coaches need to know more about each individual athlete before they will consider giving the athlete an athletic scholarship. Be sure to take the appropriate steps to get recruited; don’t wait around for a coach to find you.

NCAA Eligibility Rules

For possible college recruits to meet NCAA Scholarship Rules they will need to fulfill all college prep core courses set in place by NCAA eligibility .

Athletic Scholarships that are awarded to NCAA Division I and II athletes will need to be aware of 1-year contract or if they will be eligible for multi-year, according to the college that is offering the scholarship.

If you wish to transfer and be released from your college scholarship you will need to ask to be released from your current institution.

Once apart of the college Student-Athletes must meet the minimum required courses per quarter or semester in order to uphold athletic scholarship and institution financial aid.

Recruiting Fact: Division III Is where student-athletes represent 20% of the student body for those colleges and Universities

NCAA Athlete Rules

Maintaining Amateurism Status

Before Competing at the college level as part of the NCAA Eligibility Rules, potential student-athletes are asked to answer several questions regarding their sports participation, in order to ensure that all recruits meet NCAA Athlete Rules and compete on fair ground.

Once an athlete is registered with the NCAA eligibility center, the recruit will be given a NCAA ID number that will be used by DI or DII college coaches recruiting the athlete in order to officially be offered an NLI Division III amateurism is completed individually by the college or university the potential recruit is interested in attending.

Recruiting Fact: Over 90% of those who register are automatically certified

Maintaining eligibility

After being recruited to play college sports this is where athletes will hear the terms “continuing eligibility” and “progress toward degree” which means that student-athletes need to stay on track in order to maintain progress toward a baccalaureate or equivalent degree to stay eligible to at the NCAA level.

Student athletes at the NCAA division I and division II level are required to complete a certain percentage of their degree each year they are enrolled in college. If requirements are not met the student-athlete will be in violation of NCAA Scholarship Rules and could be in jeopardy of losing their athletic scholarship.

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