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 Eligible
Tryouts
Division III schools are not allowed to hold practice tryouts with college-bound student-athletes.
Only Division I men’s basketball is allowed to hold tryouts. Those tryouts are limited to prospective student-athletes who are seniors in high school, junior college transfers or four-year transfers who have completed their basketball season. They also must be on an official or unofficial visit to the campus.
The on-campus evaluations are limited to two hours per week, whether during the collegiate season or out of it. The two hours must take place during the regular allowable practice time (20 hours during the season, eight hours out of it).
Division II schools are allowed to hold one practice or tryout for a college-bound student-athlete on its campus as long as the student-athlete is a high-school senior who is enrolled in a term other than the term in which the traditional season in the sport occurs. The school may conduct a medical examination of the student-athlete, and the tryout may include tests to evaluate the student-athlete’s strength, speed, agility and sport skills. The tryout may include competition except in football, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer and wrestling. The tryout is limited to the length of the school’s normal practice period in the sport, but in no event can it be longer than two hours. The school may loan equipment and clothing to the college-bound student-athlete during the tryout.
College-bound student-athletes may try out with professional teams and still retain their eligibility if the following restrictions are met:
- A professional team may pay for a college-bound student-athlete to try out before he or she enrolls in college as long as the student-athlete’s visit does not exceed 48 hours and compensation for the visit does not exceed necessary expenses.
- A college-bound student-athlete cannot try out more than once with a professional team.
- A self-financed tryout may take any length of time.
- A current student-athlete may not try out with a professional team during any part of the academic year, unless the student-athlete has exhausted eligibility in the sport.
- A current student-athlete may try out with a professional team during the summer as long as he or she does not receive any expense-reimbursement or compensation from the professional team.
- During a tryout, a current student-athlete may not take part in any outside competition as a representative of that professional team.
