NCAA Div. I Athletic Scholarships: "Core Course" Requirements

NCAA Div I “Core Course” Requirements

Grades matter when it comes to NCAA athletic scholarship eligibility.  Becoming an all-state wide receiver and running a 4.3 is great but that won’t get it done if your son is not hitting the books.  Starting August 2016, the Div. I will raise the academic eligibility requirements for scholarship eligibility.

So what is a core course?  A “core course” is an academic course that receives high school graduation credit generally in the following areas:

English
Math
Natural/physical science
Social science
Foreign Language
Comparative religion, or
Philosophy

Classes that do not meet the standards for “core courses” are, by definition, non-core area classes, or vocational class work.  This would include such classes as driver’s education, art, music, physical education, personal finance, consumer education.

It’s important to know the difference between core and non-core courses because only core courses are used to determine eligibility for athletic scholarships.  An overall GPA will differ from the core course GPA.  And these core courses start the freshman year of high school. 

For NCAA Div. I academic eligibility, a student-athlete must complete a total of 16 core courses before high school graduation; 10 of those core courses must be completed before entering the senior year of high school; and 7 of the 10 must be a combination of English, Math and Science.

For Div I, a student-athlete must graduate with at least a 2.3 core course GPA to be “eligible” for an athletic scholarship and full competition (they must also meet the individual university’s admission requirements as well – for example, the admission requirements at Stanford will differ from Chico State).  So NCAA academic eligibility is just the starting point.

Next, in addition to completing those 16 core courses with at least a 2.3 GPA, your student-athlete must meet the sliding scale requirements for SAT/ACT scores.  The sliding scale combination of core course GPA and test score determines eligibility.  The higher the GPA, the lower the required SAT/ACT score.

Can a student-athlete receive scholarship money and play sports if the grades are not met?  Starting August 2016, for Division I entering freshman student-athletes, there is a three-tiered qualification system:

Full Qualifier (all academic requirements are met):  this requires completing the 16 core courses, a 2.3 core course GPA, and the matching SAT/ACT score.  A full-qualifier student-athlete may receive athletic scholarship money and both practice and compete in games starting the freshman year of college.

Academic Redshirt:  this is the student-athlete that completes the 16 core courses, but with a GPA between 2.0-2.299 and the meets the SAT/ACT score for that GPA.  An academic redshirt may receive athletic scholarship money and practice with the team during the freshman year of college.  However, an academic redshirt may not play in games during the first year.  Also, the student-athlete must remain academically successful during the first term of college (completing 9 semester hours or 8 quarter hours) to be eligible to practice for the remainder of the year.

Non-Qualifier:  a non-qualifier is the student-athlete that falls short of the above academic standards.  A non-qualifier student-athlete cannot receive athletic scholarship money, cannot practice with the team, and cannot play in games during the first year of college.

Every high school’s list of approved core courses are listed at the NCAA Eligibility Center.  Once registered, you can track your student-athlete’s progress.  But get familiar with these requirements well before the freshman year of high school starts.

NCAA Eligibility Center:  www.EligibilityCenter.org