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About Eligibility

Commitment to academic achievement and adherence to member-created rules are vital parts of the NCAA’s mission to integrate athletics into the fabric of higher education. NCAA member schools create rules to ensure that the Association’s 430,000 student-athletes compete on equal footing. Various NCAA committees and the national office staff members work to make sure rules are applied fairly.

Becoming a Student-Athlete

Division I Toolkit

Division II Toolkit

Becoming Eligible

Academic Standards

The NCAA Eligibility Center verifies the academic and amateur status of all student-athletes who wish to compete in Division I or II athletics.

College-bound student-athletes who want to practice, compete and receive athletically related financial aid during their first year at a Division I or II school need to meet the following requirements:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a core course?

A core course is a four-year preparatory class in English, mathematics, physical science, social science, foreign language, nondoctrinal religion or philosophy that is at or above a the regular academic level of classes at a student-athlete’s high school. College-bound student athletes must complete core-course requirements in eight semesters beginning when they initially started high school with their ninth-grade class. If a student-athlete graduates from high school in eight semesters with his or her class, he or she may complete one core course in the year after graduation. This final core course may be completed at a location other than the high school from which the student-athlete graduated.

Are nontraditional classes counted as core courses?

They can be. Classes that are taught through distance learning, online platforms, credit recovery or other means must be comparable in length, content and rigor to courses taught in a traditional classroom setting. They must also include ongoing access between the instructor and student, as well as regular interaction for purposes of teaching, evaluating and providing assistance. In short, course content and manner of instruction are what count.
  • Graduate from high school.
  • Complete a minimum of 16 core courses for Division I or 14 core courses for Division II. After August 1, 2013, student-athletes who wish to compete at Division II institutions must complete 16 core courses.
  • Earn a minimum required grade-point average in core courses.
  • Earn a qualifying test score on either the ACT or SAT.
  • Request final amateurism certification from the NCAA Eligibility Center.

For Division I student-athletes who will enroll in August 2015 and later, the requirements to compete in the first year will change. In addition to the above standards, prospects must:

  • Earn at least a 2.3 grade-point average in core courses.
  • Meet an increased sliding-scale standard (for example, an SAT score of 1,000 requires a 2.5 high school core course GPA)
  • Successfully complete 10 of the 16 total required core courses before the start of their senior year in high school. Seven of the 10 courses must be successfully completed in English, math and science.

Prospects that earn between a 2.0 and 2.3 GPA and meet the current sliding scale standard (for example, an SAT score of 1,000 requires a 2.025 high school core course GPA) will be eligible for practice and athletically related financial aid but not competition.

Division III college and universities set their own admission standards. The NCAA does not set initial eligibility requirements in Division III.

For more detail about academic requirements visit the Eligibility Center.

 

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2012