Walking A Tight Rope With New NCAA Eligibility Requirements

Are you are a high school student athlete that has visions of playing at the next level? If so, you need to be aware of the fairly new (2016) NCAA eligibility requirements that the NCAA Eligibility Center has enforced. These standards are the most difficult expectations ever assembled for incoming freshman. My name is David Beckley and I speak on this subject often at coaching clinics, high schools, camps, showcases, and even tryouts. I have recently began asking our audience of athletes, parents, and coaches to explain these new standards. They don't know - it's still a mystery to them.

There are four pillars to an athlete's support system in this process: the student athlete, parents, coaches, and guidance counselors.

The first three components (75%) are generally in the dark about these requirements. Leaving your guidance counselor as the main provider. You need to know Guidance Departments have many jobs within the school. They are not always up-to-date on current issues within the NCAA. Most of them are also gone for the summer vacation months when most of these issues become time sensitive. So, if you were to imagine walking a tight rope on this journey to play in college, the guidance counselor is the rope. They are there to help, but it may be unstable and risky at times. This is not an attempt to mock guidance departments, because they are amazing at what they do! It's just a lot to keep up with all they currently have to do and the NCAA regulations.

Just yesterday, I reviewed a transcript of one of my clients and found an administrative error that is preventing this athlete from getting an A in his science course from his freshman year (currently a junior). This doesn't just effect my client. It effects every athlete that has taken that class in their entire high school, and who knows how long this has been going on? We will get it fixed, but you would be amazed at some of the things E4 has discovered - dating all the way back to my 16 year career as a baseball coach at The Citadel.

E4 Consultants can be your guide so you don't find yourself walking a tight rope with little help, or even worse alone. With our services we will see you to the other side.

Division I Requirements:

Complete a total of 16 core courses in the following areas:

4 English

3 Math (Algebra 1 or higher)

2 Science

1 Additional English/Math/Science

2 Social Science

4 Additional Core Courses

(NEW) Complete 10 of your 16 core course requirement by the start of your 7th semester;

7 of those 10 must be completed and approved English, math, and science classes.

Once a student athlete starts their 7th semester, they must have completed more than 10 core courses to replace or repeat any of the 10 courses used to meet the 10/7 requirement.

Failure to do so would result in athlete being ineligible as a college freshman.

Once athlete starts the 9th grade, they have 8 academic semesters, or 4 consecutive academic years to complete the requirements.

Athletes must earn an SAT combined score or ACT sum score that matches their NCAA GPA on the D1 sliding scale.

(NEW) The minimum NCAA GPA required to be a NCAA DI qualifier is 2.30.

Division II Requirements:

Complete a total of 16 core courses in the following areas:

3 English

2 Math (Algebra 1 or higher)

2 Science

3 Additional English/Math/Science

2 Social Science

4 Additional Core Courses

(NEW) The minimum NCAA GPA required to be a NCAA DII qualifier is 2.20.

Division III Requirements:

D III schools do not offer athletic scholarships.

They have their own admission policies and do not go through the NCAA Eligibility Center.

If you have any questions regarding NCAA eligibility requirements or topics related to recruiting, eligibility, compliance, or financial aid - you can set up a consulting call with David Beckley at 843-708-9628, or email any of your questions to david@e4consultants.com