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Becoming an NCAA Student-Athlete as a Homeschooled Student
A student is generally considered homeschooled if a parent, guardian or tutor creates the curriculum, provides instruction, assesses coursework or awards grades and credit.
Learning at home is not always the same as being homeschooled. A student may learn at home through an online school with online teachers, which may be considered nontraditional coursework instead of homeschool coursework.
Homeschool Requirements at a Glance
Homeschooled students planning to compete at a Division I or II school generally need an Academic and Athletics Certification account. International homeschooled student-athletes planning to compete at a Division III school generally need athletics certification.
Like all college-bound student-athletes planning to participate in NCAA sports, homeschooled students must meet specific academic requirements.
Learning at Home is Not Always Homeschooling
If an outside school or program provides the curriculum, instruction, assignments, assessments, grades or transcript, the coursework may be considered nontraditional instead of homeschool. If a parent, guardian, tutor or umbrella program manages those areas, the student is likely considered homeschooled. If you are homeschooled, homeschool documentation will be required to review your homeschool core courses.
If you answer yes to one or more of the questions below, you will likely be considered a homeschooled student.
To determine whether a college-bound student-athlete would be considered homeschooled, review the following questions:
How Homeschool Courses are Evaluated
The only courses that require a homeschool evaluation are those in which the homeschool parent/guardian, tutor, or umbrella program is the one is responsible for all the following:
- Planning and delivering actual instructional activities, such as lectures, discussions, tutorials, feedback or assistance.
- Determining the student’s comprehension of the material by grading and evaluating student performance and achievement on assignments and assessments, and providing appropriate reteaching and feedback.
- Determining the overall grade the student achieved in the course.
- Placing grades on a transcript or grade report, or reporting grades to a homeschool umbrella program.
Required Homeschool Documents
The following documents must be submitted before the NCAA Eligibility Center can review homeschool coursework and complete an academic certification.
Reminder: The Eligibility Center will begin evaluating homeschool information once all the above required documents have been received and the student’s Academic and Athletics Certification account has been activated on an NCAA school’s institutional request list (IRL). An NCAA school’s athletics compliance office is not required to add the student to the IRL, but may do so if a coach at that NCAA school is recruiting a student. Please check with the athletics compliance office at the NCAA school the student may attend for more information about this process.
Which Homeschool Documents are Required for Review?
A homeschool umbrella program is any program recognized by the state as a homeschool program or homeschool support program. The three different types of programs are:
- Programs offering transcript service, state high school diploma, record keeping and review of course materials.
- Programs that can offer transcript service, state high school diploma, record keeping and curriculum. These programs do not offer a review of course materials.
- Programs that only offer a transcript and a diploma.
The homeschool administrator statement must always be completed, signed, and submitted via email by the parent or guardian, regardless of whether the student is enrolled in an umbrella program. This should be completed first.
Transcripts may be signed by an umbrella program administrator when the student is enrolled in an umbrella program. If the program operates as a homeschool co-op, the transcript must instead be signed by the parent or guardian.
The homeschool administrator statement is required for all homeschooled students, including those who participate in an umbrella program and are pursuing college athletics.
In all cases, the parent or guardian is responsible for completing and signing the Core-Course Worksheets.
Still Need Help?
Contact the Eligibility Center Customer Service team
| Domestic and Canadian students (except Quebec) | 877-262-1492 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET – Mon. through Fri. |
| International and Quebec students | International Contact Form |
| High School Counselors (PIN required) | 877-622-2321 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET – Mon. through Fri. |
| NCAA Compliance Administrators | Membership Portal |