NCAA Student-Athlete Eligibility Requirements
***Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the NCAA Eligibility Center has decided that all students enrolled full-time during the 2021-22 and 2022-2023 academic year, who intend to play sports at the D1 or D2 level next year, will not be required to take the SAT or ACT. They will not take into account your scores toward your eligibility if you have not taken them. Also, they will continue to accept grades from student-athletes whose school is using a pass/fail system through the remainder of this year. We expect the Eligibility Center to return to normal requirements for the 2023-24 year, so do not expect to have the same loose requirements next year.
NCAA Eligibility Requirements
For many athletes looking to forge ahead as an elite, the U.S. collegiate system is a genuine proving ground. After high school, it is the next logical, and oftentimes the only step available. It’s your bridge to the beyond.
That is why we have decided to add a dedicated NCAA segment for all our hardworking high school athletes and junior college transfers. This is a continual endeavor to help build a better process for student-athletes and parents to find the information they need to get ready for athletics in college, and that all starts with understanding NCAA compliance.
All information compiled here is direct from the NCAA or NCSA websites, and personal experience as a collegiate athlete and coach. Many links will take you straight to the NCAA’s own page to print off or fill out forms that may be needed.
Below is most of what you need to know, as well as the actual steps you need to take (step-by-step) to registering and putting yourself on the right path to admission!
Things to have or know before continuing
This process must be completed if looking to participate in NCAA Division I or II sports
You can register as soon as six (6) semesters of high school have been completed.
Transcripts must come directly from the student’s high school. All ACT or SAT scores must be reported to the NCAA Eligibility Center by the testing company, you cannot submit these yourself.
You are now required to complete registration by paying your fee or getting it waived within 30 days or your account will be deleted.
Needs:30 and 45 minutes to complete registration
A valid email you regularly check that is NOT a high school email address and NOT an email another student-athlete in the family has used to register
Basic information about yourself/your child
Official high school transcripts
ACT/SAT scores
$90 registration fee for US and Canada, $135 for International students (can be waived, see below)
Final transcripts and proof of graduation (needed after senior graduation only)
Table of Contents
What is the NCAA Eligibility Center
This is where prospective student-athletes must register to be verified as academically eligible and having met amateur status requirements for participation (you can’t be receiving money to play your sport). In other words, this is your first step to be recognized as able to play collegiate sports.
This is NOT a searchable database for NCAA coaches to use to find and recruit you. The NCAA Eligibility Center is only a means of verifying you have met your base requirements to participate in the NCAA.
To go on an official visit (Division I and II) to a college or university, or sign a National Letter of Intent, they will need your 10-digit Eligibility Center ID number which you can get once you have registered and paid your fee for the Certification Account or set up a free Profile Page (more on these later). This ID number is also required to accept a scholarship, though you don't need to be registered to receive an offer from an interested program.
So, if you haven’t gotten to the point of speaking with coaches, are not yet able to be actively recruited, or are unsure of where you might like to go, you don’t yet need to pay your registration fees. In fact, it is recommended you first open a free Profile Page and get your information set up and your Eligibility Center ID as soon as you can.
You can always switch from a free Profile Page to a Certification Account later when needed. It should be noted that you CANNOT go from a Certification Account to a Profile Page. Don’t worry about which you need to do or what any of that means yet, as we’ll be giving you more information as we approach our step-by-step guide.
To be eligible, the NCAA Eligibility Center will look to determine if you have met these specific requirements. Each Division has different guidelines but we recommend always trying to achieve the Division I requirements, as that will satisfy the others.
NCAA Requirement
Division III Eligibility Requirements
Division III schools set their own academic eligibility requirements. We recommend checking with any Division III institution you may wish to attend to gather this information so you know what’s expected. You do not need to register with the Eligibility Center if you plan to attend a Division III school. That said, you should still complete the free Profile Page in case you wish to look at other schools, and can always transfer to a Certification Account later if you decide you may want to attend a Division I or II school.
Division III schools do not offer athletic-specific scholarships.
NCAA Amateurism Requirements
To participate as an NCAA athlete, you must also maintain amateur status. This means that you are not allowed to receive any kind of prize money for athletics (beyond reimbursement for participation), you cannot have signed a contract with an agent, nor receive benefits of any kind from one. You are also not allowed to earn money through means of your athletic ability or services. Student-athletes are forbidden from taking a break between their last semester at their previous school and full-time enrollment at the new college, to continue participating in their sport.
The NCAA has been adamant about keeping these amateurism requirements to keep fan interest, and cap money made by athletes to allow a more “education first” focus than the other way around. They are, after all, student-athletes.
The best thing you can do is to never take money for your sport, never use your fame to help promote, never sign a contract or work with an agent (for recruiting purposes or otherwise), and be prepared to participate immediately once committed.
If you have questions about your amateurism status, head over to the NCAA’s amateurism rules page.
NCAA Apporved Core Courses
Students are required to take and pass a minimum of 16 core courses that include English, math, natural/physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion, or philosophy. These classes are defined in more detail in the NCAA Requirements section below but are necessary to become at least academically eligible in the eyes of the NCAA.
Athletes are required to have a minimum GPA that represents these core classes only and NOT your overall GPA. The NCAA is only concerned with your core courses GPA. In other words, you must meet a GPA set by your division’s standards as if you had only taken these 16 core courses.
It would be simple to take a bunch of electives such as art, photography, and additional P.E. classes to fluff your overall GPA, but these are not the most important ones to pass! Many student-athletes heading into college become academically ineligible to participate even with a high overall GPA because they did not meet the requirements set by the NCAA. It’s important to try and plan out these core classes and when to take them the moment your high school freshman registration begins.
Where to find my high school’s approved NCAA core courses?
Every high school has a list of approved core courses you can find at the NCAA High School Portal. Most of you won’t know what your high school's six-digit code or CEEB/ACT code is, therefore it’s easiest to search your school by supplying the school’s location and name.
If for whatever reason you cannot find approved courses for your high school through the database, you should consult your school’s guidance counselor. This is a best practice to get accustomed to regardless.
What if I'm home-schooled?
If a student is home-schooled, you will need to follow the instructions from the NCAA through their Home School Toolkit. This is a great informational tool on how to submit records, core-course worksheets, content requirements, and more.
While this provides you with just about all the pertinent information you need, it is highly recommended, if not required to meet with your high school counselor. We’ve seen many situations where student-athletes believed they had met all the NCAA requirements to move forward at the college level, only to find out they had not fulfilled the necessary core courses from home-schooling.
If you can successfully fill out the Home School Checklist at this point, the remaining steps are essentially the same for you as with any other student-athlete as far as registering with the Eligibility Center.
You will additionally need to:
Submit a signed statement of who managed the home school program (e.g., who taught and evaluated the coursework, awarded grades, and issued credit); and a signed statement that homeschooling was conducted in accordance with state laws.
Submit core-course worksheets for English, math, natural or physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion, or philosophy classes.
Please include the Home School Cover Sheet with your documentation.
Email address:
ec-processing@ncaa.org
Mailing Address:
NCAA Eligibility Center
Attn: Home School Evaluation
1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Warning! Only home school administrators or home-school umbrella programs can submit student documentation. Student-submitted documentation will not be accepted.
Tip The NCAA Eligibility Center strongly encourages all home school documents be submitted via email. Documents submitted via email will be processed quicker than those sent via regular U.S. mail.
How do I determine my core GPA?
We always recommend planning and tracking your status as you progress through school to better understand where you are at and what, if any, adjustments you need to make.
Luckily the NCAA gives you a nice worksheet to print off and keep track of such things. You can use the core courses worksheets to mark your core courses taken, the grade you received, credits offered, and get your “quality points” earned. All you need to do is take your total quality points and divide that by your total credits to get your current core-course GPA. Just follow and use the appropriate worksheet and you’ll be just fine.
NCAA sliding scale
The NCAA utilizes a sliding scale to help determine your eligibility. Because your core GPA is weighted far more heavily, the higher your core GPA, the less impactful your SAT/ACT score needs to be. In short, you don’t need to score as high on your SAT/ACT with a higher core GPA. That does not mean they are not important, but the NCAA takes your in-class work quite seriously.
Do I have a good SAT or ACT score?
We get asked over and over again, “Is this a good score?” or “Do I need to take my test again?” Students receive their scores and approach parents, teachers, and coaches as if to ask us if we think they are unintelligent.
Many students receive their scores back and are used to hearing stories of really high SAT/ACT scores during the testing season thanks to a few incredibly smart, out-of-the-ordinary students who make the news. You need to understand that your scores are not a competition with those few who achieve perfect, or very high scores, rather a benchmark of your current academic understanding of the material on the tests.
Many are quite relieved to hear that the national averages have hovered around 1070 and 21 for the SAT and ACT respectively, for quite some time. If you wish to score higher, we recommend any number of available SAT/ACT Preparatory classes you can take to help you gain a few more points.
You may also take the SAT as many times as you would like. The NCAA uses your highest individual math and reading scores of all your attempts and adds them together to form your “combined SAT” score. The NCAA does not use your written score to determine eligibility.
As for the ACT, they similarly use what is called the “ACT sum score” which is a combination of your English, math, reading, and science scores. If you score a perfect 36 points in each of the four testing categories, you would score the maximum “ACT sum score” of 144 (36x4). The ACT does have a limit to the number of times you can take it -- 12. That’s more than you will likely ever need, but the NCAA will still take your top individual scores in each subject and form your best overall ACT sum score.
How do I submit my SAT scores to the NCAA?
The NCAA only accepts SAT scores sent directly from the testing center. These are your official test scores and cannot be substituted with online score report copies, labels on transcripts, or by your high school. The easiest way to ensure your test scores are sent is during registration for the SAT. During registration, you will have the opportunity to enter codes to identify which school(s) you would like your scores sent to. One code should be “9999” which specifically identifies the NCAA Eligibility Center.
A handy tool to find these codes now is the K-12 School Code Search. You will be able to search when registering for the SAT as well, so no need to panic if you don’t know it going in.
You are allowed up to four (4) free score reports you can send to any college or program of your choice. Entering “9999” will fulfill one of those free reporting slots, leaving you with three remaining. If you wish to send your score report to more than four, you may choose to pay an additional $12 per submission.
If you have already taken the SAT and did not do this step, no worries. You can still select and send up to four free score reports within nine (9) days after your test date. To do so, sign in to your College Board account (where you registered to take the SAT), find and select to “send scores”. As above, use code “9999” and any other college code you would like to send your scores to. Again, any more than four will incur additional fees, usually $12 per submission.
How do I submit my ACT scores to the NCAA?
The same process to submit your SAT scores to the NCAA applies to your ACT scores, with two minor differences.
If you have already taken the ACT and need to send scores, you will need to visit the ACT website. The fee to request scores after the fact is $15. Otherwise, follow the same steps as you would in the section above for SAT scores.
Tip If you want to double-check that your scores for the SAT or ACT have been received by the NCAA, you can log into the High School Portal found under the Eligibility Center. Once there, find “Select Reports” and then “Search Student Details”. Lastly, type in the student-athlete's name and you should be able to see if a test score has been filed.
How do I send my transcript to the NCAA?
The NCAA will only accept official high school transcripts in two ways. First, and fastest method, is to send them directly to the NCAA via your high school counselor. This is usually done through several approved online providers, is more secure, and allows a more hands-off approach for the student/parent.
The second method is by mail. These must be received in a sealed envelope.
NCAA Eligibility Center
Certification Processing
P.O. Box 7136
Indianapolis, IN 46207-7136
Overnight mail may be sent to:
NCAA Eligibility Center
1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202
The NCAA Eligibility Center does not accept transcripts via fax.
Eligibility Center fee waiver
Warning! Please read the information below first to see if you qualify before submitting a refund request form.
Alert! Students from countries other than the United States or its territories are not eligible for a fee waiver.
NCAA Eligibility Center Refund Form
The following section was pulled directly from the NCAA site:
You are eligible for a registration fee waiver if you have received a waiver of the SAT or ACT fee. This is not the same as a U.S. state voucher. You must have an authorized high school official submit your fee waiver documentation online after you complete your registration.
In order to be eligible for an ACT fee waiver, you must meet one of these indicators of economic need:
Your family receives low-income public assistance
Your family income is at or below the Bureau of Labor Statistics Low Standard Budget
You are a ward of the state
You live in a foster home
You are homeless
You participate in free or reduced-price lunch program at school
You participate in federally funded TRIO Program such as Upward Bound
You are eligible for consideration for an SAT fee waiver if you are a United States citizen or a foreign national taking the SAT in the United States or its territories and you meet one of the following requirements:
You are enrolled in a program for the economically disadvantaged such as AVID or TRIO
Your family’s annual income falls within the levels listed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for free or reduced-price lunches
Your family receives public assistance
Your family lives in federally subsidized public housing
You live in a foster home
If you are a homeschooled student in the United States or its territories who cannot afford to pay the test fees, you must provide proof of eligibility to your local high school or agency fee-waiver administrator. Only a school or agency administrator can provide you with the fee-waiver card for the appropriate test.
Let's get started!
Nothing hard about it. While the initial setup is relatively quick and easy, much like anything else, expect to spend a good number of hours over your high school years updating your profile, submitting information, talking to coaches, getting official transcripts from your guidance counselor, harnessing your athletic abilities, bolstering your grades, etc.
Warning! Before moving ahead, please read and understand any of the information posted in this article thus far. If anything else, refer back to it anytime you run into something you do not understand or have questions about.
Step 1: Create an NCAA Eligibility Center account ←Click Here
You will be asked several basic questions regarding the student-athlete’s personal information, education, and sports background. It is generally recommended to do this step near the beginning of their junior year in high school, though you can do this as early as their freshman year to get ahead of the game by setting up a free Profile Page. Completion of this step will award you your NCAA ID number which is pertinent moving forward, as college coaches will need it to recruit you and more.
Step 2: Schedule a meeting with your high school guidance counselor
No matter how diligent you are at tracking your courses or GPA, it’s always a good idea to check in with your guidance counselor. What you see, and what they see may be different, and it only matters what the system is reporting, so you want to ensure everyone is on the same page.
You want to make sure the classes you have taken are ones necessary to your eligibility, and also the ones you have scored highly on. Just because you have a good overall school GPA, doesn’t mean you are necessarily on track to meeting your requirements for the NCAA. See the above section on “NCAA Requirements” and core classes. When in doubt, check with your guidance counselor. When not in doubt, double-check with your guidance counselor.
Step 3: Send your official high school transcripts
When the student-athlete has reached the end of their junior year, you will need to ask your high school guidance counselor to send official transcripts to the NCAA Eligibility Center. They, and only they, can upload your official transcripts to the approved providers. This is the simplest and quickest method.
Step 4: Send your SAT/ACT scores to the NCAA
During either the SAT or ACT registration, student-athletes have the opportunity to select up to four (4) places to send their test results once completed. It will ask you for a code for each.
These can be colleges or universities you are interested in attending. One of those four should be code “9999” which is the NCAA Eligibility Center. Make your life easier and do this step during registration. Otherwise, refer back to the section “How do I submit my SAT score to the NCAA?” Do this every time you register to take the test if you do so multiple times.
Once received, you will be preliminarily certified! The only thing left to do at that point is to send in your final transcripts (see Step 5).
Step 5: Send in your final transcripts and request amateurism certification
To complete the eligibility process, the NCAA will need the student-athlete’s final transcripts. These, again, can only be gained from your high school guidance counselor so you need to schedule a time to sit with them so you can get them sent. You can request final certification as soon as April 1 of your senior year if you are planning to register for college classes in the fall.
When your final transcripts have been sent, you can log into your NCAA Eligibility Center account and request final amateurism certification -- the final step to determining your eligibility for the following year. If all goes well, you will officially be ready to participate in the NCAA sport of your choice!
What is my NCAA academic status?
After you have submitted the information and the NCAA Eligibility Center has reviewed it, you will receive an “academic status” that correlates to your eligibility standing. Here’s a list of the possible statuses and what they mean.
Final Qualifier: This status is the one you want to see most. It means that you meet all of the academic requirements for the NCAA and can receive an athletic scholarship for your upcoming freshman year in college.
Early Academic Qualifier: Early academic qualifiers are student-athletes who meet certain academic thresholds after six semesters of high school. This status means you can practice and receive athletic scholarships when you enroll in your first full-time year (12 credit hours per semester) of college. Contact your school’s Compliance Department for more information.
Final Non-qualifier: This means you are unable to compete or practice at the institution requesting your status. This is because you do not currently meet the academic requirements, and are ineligible to receive an athletic scholarship at this time, although you may receive need-based financial aid.
Final Partial Qualifier: Partial Qualifiers are only applicable to DII schools. You can receive athletic scholarships still and practice with the team but are not allowed to compete in your first year at the college.
Under Review: You have a specific academic situation that is under review by the NCAA Eligibility Center. This can be something such as a review for a class they need to verify was completed in an “academically sound matter”.
Academic Redshirt: This status is unique to DI student-athletes. This means you can receive an athletic scholarship from a school and may also practice with the team, but are not allowed to compete your first year.
Automatic Waiver Approved: You are immediately eligible to receive athletic scholarships, and practice or compete your first year as a full-time enrollee. Contact your college’s Compliance Department for more details.
HS Decision Pending: This typically indicates that your high school or program does not have a List of NCAA Courses and is under a more in-depth review to determine a decision. The NCAA will get ahold of your school to do so.
In Process: The certification staff is reviewing your case. Usually, cases remain “in process” for no more than two business days before receiving a status update.
Secondary Review: Sometimes your case is escalated for a secondary review due to post-graduate coursework, post-graduate test scores, unofficial high school transcripts, changes to a grade or class on your transcript, etc. Usually, cases remain in this status for no more than five business days before the update.
Waiver Approved: Sometimes your college’s compliance office will file for a waiver if they think you will meet one of the cases for academic waivers. For example, if you had a personal hardship or medical issue that led to falling behind academically. This status means that the waiver has been approved.
Waiver Denied: If your compliance office has filed for a waiver and it is denied, you will receive this status. This usually means your case was not applicable and you will not be eligible for a scholarship or be able to compete.
Waiver Partially Approved (athletics aid only): If your compliance office has filed for a waiver on your behalf and it was partially approved, you will receive this status. This means you are permitted to receive an athletic scholarship but you cannot practice or compete your first year in college. Contact your institution's Compliance Department for details.
Waiver Partially Approved (aid and practice): An initial eligibility waiver submitted on your behalf has been partially approved. This means you can receive an athletic scholarship but are not eligible to practice or compete your first year in school. Contact your institution's Compliance Department for details.
Moving forward
That’s about it, folks! There’s a ton of great information here for you to come back to. It is recommended to use your browser’s search option to quickly locate something you want to review or scan the Table of Contents.
If you have further questions, or you feel there is something pertinent to you that is missing, PLEASE reach out directly to us using the Contact Us page and we’ll be sure to update or add in anything that’s missing.
As a bonus, NCSA has put together a very handy printable checklist you can use to track your most important to-dos. You can find that by simply clicking HERE. There are more articles to come for athletes looking to reach out to coaches, what to expect as a collegiate athlete, and how to choose the right school for you. So keep an eye out or subscribe to us for free to get the latest updates!
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