New Rules Regarding Athlete Welfare and Academics

When college presidents from across the country are called to a “retreat” by the NCAA… you know something big is going to happen.

And it has.  And it is good. 

What it means for student athlete eligibility going forward is that, while student athletes will be eligible for additional scholarships to cover unforeseen costs that athletic scholarships can’t cover, the road to get them will be harder and it will be harder to keep.

Walter Harrison, chair of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, and President of University of Hartford, said that the initiatives that they passed were “three of the most significant initiatives in NCAA history.”

The three areas that the initiative address are:

Scholarships:  The amount of money college athletes can get: Higher

Academic Progress: The academic requirements needed for a college team to remain eligible:  Higher

Eligibility: Here’s where we need to take a deeper look…

The minimum GPA a high school athlete needs to had in order to be eligible:  you guessed it:  Higher

“Under new rules beginning in August 2016, to be eligible for competition incoming freshmen must have a 2.3 grade point average in a set of high school core courses, up from 2.0, and the appropriate standardized test score on the NCAA’s sliding scale, which has been adjusted slightly to account for the new GPA minimum”

But that’s not all… specifically on the High School Student Athlete Eligibility… a new rule states that

“would-be college athletes must now complete 10 of the 16 required core courses prior to senior year. Seven of those must be English, math and science courses.”

The NCAA has made the right move.  They realize that in order to have more money available for scholarships AND ensure that college athletes are performing to higher academic standards… they have to set the bar higher for high school student athletes to get over.

And this is exactly what high school athletics is meant to do…

To be used as a motivator for academic excellence.

So our Core Transcripts hat is off to you NCAA.  We are on board. 

Students first… athletes second.

You can read more of the article discussed above at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/10/28/ncaa-board-approves-athletic-eligibility-rules-division-i-athletes#ixzz1mMfUb91y

Inside Higher Ed

If you are involved in or responsible for high school athletics and you would like to know more about Core Transcripts™ Student Athlete Eligibility Tracking System and how it can safeguard eligibility.  Visit the Core Transcripts website at www.coretranscripts.com