NCAA to Adjust Academic Requirements for Incoming Student-Athletes

In light of the global pandemic of COVID-19, the NCAA is looking to adjust their rules to reflect the impact it's had on student-athletes. Yesterday, news released that Division I coaches are now eligible to have up to eight hours of virtual meetings and host non contact activities; today, the NCAA is looking to provide several pathways for incoming student-athletes of Division I and II sports.

Felicia Martin, VP of the NCAA Eligibility Center released the following statement,

“The Eligibility Center is navigating the complexity of COVID-19 and its negative impact on our membership, high schools and student-athletes. We understand this is an unprecedented situation and a difficult time for students and their parents, and the Eligibility Center is working diligently to ensure the best possible outcome for college-bound student-athletes and our member schools.”

“We are keenly aware of the educational disruptions and academic uncertainty that prospective student-athletes are experiencing,” Martin said. “To that end, the Eligibility Center is committed to providing support and flexibility in application of initial-eligibility requirements as we remain nimble for additional issues we can’t predict or forecast.”

The NCAA also released a statement of the guidelines for students,

Students expected to graduate from high school in time to enroll in a Division I school for the 2020-21 academic year will be academically eligible by earning a 2.3 grade-point average in 10 NCAA-approved core courses, with a combined seven courses in English, math and science, by the start of their seventh semester in high school (prior to senior year). These criteria do not require a standardized test score and will not apply to students who are expected to graduate after spring or summer 2020.

For students intending to enroll at Division II schools after graduating from high school this spring or summer, the standard will be completion of 10 NCAA-approved core courses by their seventh semester in high school (prior to senior year), with at least a 2.2 grade-point average in those courses.

These standards will be considered automatic waivers for both Divisions I and II, which means these students meeting these criteria are academically eligible to receive an athletics scholarship, practice and compete in their first year at an NCAA member school.

Additionally, the Eligibility Center will modify its approach to schools that issue pass/fail grades due to school closures. Ordinarily, a “pass” on a student’s transcript is awarded the school’s lowest passing grade, most often a D, and is assigned 1.0 quality points.

For courses completed in spring and summer 2020 with a “pass” grade, the Eligibility Center will apply the credit earned in those courses toward the core-course requirement. If the core GPA would increase by assigning a value of 2.3 (the minimum GPA to qualify to compete in Division I), that value will be assigned to passed courses. If the 2.3 mark would decrease the student’s overall GPA, the core-course GPA will be calculated based only on courses with assigned letter grades from other available terms. This policy will apply to students from all grade levels who have pass/fail grades in NCAA-approved core courses in spring and summer 2020 due to the COVID-19 response.

For any additional, please visit, NCAA.org for further information.

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