Recruiting Tip: NCAA Scholarships and Academic Requirements
In order to qualify for a scholarship to play at the NCAA collegiate levels, you need to ensure your student athlete is meeting the academic requirements. Over the weekend, I ran into a client who was grateful for the post I had written previously about meeting these academic standards. She and her daughter sat down with their high school counselor, and discovered she had not met all the requirements and if she had not stumbled on this, her daughter would have lost her scholarship! This particular parent also works at the high school, when she looked further, she found that 3 other athletes were in jeopardy of losing their scholarships because she had not ensured they were taking the minimum core course requirements! This situation is reoccurring all over the US, as high school counselors and families are not paying attention to the changes that have been made to the NCAA.
As of August 1, 2013, any student athlete playing in the Division 1 or Division 2 level, must have completed 16 core courses in high school. Students must earn a minimum required GPA in these core courses, and a combined SAT or ACT sum score that matches this GPA on a sliding scale. Beginning August 1, 2016, NCAA Division 1 will require 10 core courses to be completed prior to the seventh semester. Seven of the ten must be a combination of English, Math or Natural or Physical Science. These 10 courses become “locked in” at the start of the seventh semester and cannot be retaken for grade improvement! Many student athletes take for granted the first year of high school, believing they have time to adjust and to slack off. This is not the case for students who wish to earn a college scholarship! The NCAA GPA is calculated using NCAA core course only. These courses include:
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Division 1
16 Core Courses
- 4 years of English
- 3 years of Mathematics (Algebra 1 or higher)
- 2 years of Natural/Physical Science (1 year of lab)
- 1 year of additional English, Mathematics or Natural or Physical Science
- 2 years of Social Science
- 4 years of additional courses from any area above, foreign language or comparative religion/philosophy. (Note, most college admissions offices want to see a minimum of 2 years of foreign language taken consecutively, many prefer 3 years)
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Division 2
16 Core Courses
- 3 years of English
- 2 years of Mathematics (Algebra 1 or higher)
- 2 years of Natural/Physical Science (1 year of lab)
- 3 years of additional English, Mathematics, or Natural/Physical Science
- 2 years of Social Science
- 4 years of additional courses from any area above, foreign language or comparative religion/philosophy
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It’s in your best interest to follow the Division 1 16 core course academic requirements, because you cannot predict what your future holds. Although these changes have been known for years, not all high school counselors have remained up to date. There are reports from college admissions offices all over the country that more and more students are not meeting these requirements, because they are not the same requirements needed for admissions at major university’s. Please sit down with your high school counselor and go over the eligibility requirements. You need to make it known that your student athlete is trying to get recruited to play at the collegiate level.
If you want to play volleyball at the college level, and would like a more personalized approach to the recruiting process, email [email protected]. As a college volleyball recruiting expert, I would be happy to create a strategy for success for your student athlete.
