NCAA DII Academic Eligibility

http://www.ncaa.org/

In order for a student-athlete to be immediately eligible to compete at an NCAA Division II institution, the student-athlete must meet the following requirements based on their current status.

Incoming freshmen students must

• graduate from high school,
• complete 16 core courses,
• 3 years of English,
• 2 years of math (Algebra 1 or higher),
• 2 years of natural or physical science (including one year of lab science if offered by high school),
• 3 additional years of English, math, or natural or physical science,
• 2 years of social science,
• 4 additional years of English, math, natural or physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion, or philosophy,
• earn at least a 2.0 GPA in the core courses,
• earn a minimum SAT combined score of 820 or ACT sum score of 68, and
• register in the NCAA Eligibility Center
• submit high school transcripts
• request amateurism certification.1

Four-year transfer students must

• obtain permission to contact from their current institution,
• must meet progress-toward-degree requirements (detailed below), and
• must be released from their current institution.

Two-year transfer students must

• obtain an associate’s degree from their current institution or,
• meet two-year transfer regulations,
• average 12 hours earned per full-time semester,
• earn 6 hours of transferable English,
• earn 3 hours of transferable math,
• earn 3 hours of transferable natural or physical science,
• have a minimum GPA of 2.2, and
• be registered in the NCAA eligibility center,
• submit all necessary documents,
• request final amateurism.2

*there are some exceptions to these regulations depending on the student’s academic history, but these guidelines generally apply to most two-year transfers.*

Current student-athletes at the institution must meet progress-toward-degree requirements which include

• earn at least 9 hours each semester,
• if the student-athlete is a junior or senior the hours must be degree countable,
• earn at least 24 hours within the full academic year (fall, spring, and summer),
• if the student-athlete is a junior or senior the hours must be degree countable
• remain in good academic standing at the current institution, and
• maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0.2

*these regulations apply to all student-athletes with a few exceptions permitted for special circumstances.*

Student-athletes must meet these requirements in order to be immediately eligible for competition at their current institution. However, there are some exceptions that are allowed under special circumstances.

References

1National Collegiate Athletic Association. Play Division II Sports. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/play-division-ii-sports

2National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2016). 2016-17 NCAA Division II Manual. Indianapolis, IN: National Collegiate Athletic Association.

National Letter of Intent

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Chances are you have probably heard a student say they are “signing” to play college sports. What exactly does it mean when a student “signs” with an institution? The student is actually signing a National Letter of Intent (NLI).

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) manages the daily operations of the NLI program but the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) governs the program.1 The NLI program began in 1964 with seven conferences and eight institutions participating in the program.1 Today the NLI program includes 650 Division I and II participating institutions.1 The NLI program is completely voluntary to both institutions and student-athletes, meaning institutions do not have to participate in the program and no student-athlete is required to sign an NLI.1

The NLI is actually a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete (PSA) and an NLI member institution.1 By signing an NLI, a PSA agrees to attend the member institution full-time for one academic year, which is equivalent to two semesters or three quarters depending on the institution.1 Additionally, the institution agrees to provide athletic financial aid to the PSA for one academic year.1

Once a PSA signs an NLI, all other NLI member institutions are prohibited from recruiting that PSA.1 If a student-athlete does not attend the member institution full-time for one academic year, the student-athlete will not have fulfilled the requirements of the NLI.1 As a result, the student-athlete will be required to serve an academic year in residence full-time at the next NLI member institution that they attend and also lose one season of competition in all sports. 1

An NLI can only be issued by a member institution on certain dates throughout the year. Further, a PSA is required to sign an NLI within one week of the NLI being issued to them. Otherwise, the NLI will become invalid. The signing dates can vary by sport and are not always the same across the board for every sport. When it comes to Division II institutions, every sport (with the exception of football, soccer, and men’s water polo) can sign PSAs during an early period in November and during a regular period that spans from April until August.2 Football has a separate regular signing period from February until April and can also sign mid-year junior college transfers from December until January.2 However, soccer and men’s water polo only have one signing period from February until August.2

No PSA is required to sign an NLI and no member institution is required to participate in the NLI program. The signing of an NLI binds that PSA to the member institution and prevents all other member institutions from further recruiting that PSA. It also guarantees that the member institution will provide athletic aid to that PSA for at least one academic year. If a student-athlete does not attend the member institution for at least one academic year, then the student-athlete will be required to serve an academic year in residence at the next member institution that they attend full-time.

References

1National Letter of Intent. About the National Letter of Intent (NLI). Retrieved from http://www.nationalletter.org/aboutTheNli/index.html

2National Letter of Intent. NLI Signing Dates for Prospective Student-Athletes Signing 2016-17 and Enrolling 2017-18. Retrieved from http://www.nationalletter.org/signingDates/index.html

NCAA Division II Athletic Aid

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The NCAA regulates the amount of athletic aid that an institution can give its athletes. This amount is determined for each athlete as well as each sport.2 The NCAA also regulates the types of aid that a student-athlete may receive.2

Permissible Aid

Institutional Financial Aid

• all funds administered by the institution including but not limited to scholarships, grants, athletics aid, tuition waivers that are awarded based on athletics ability, and loans.1
• Also, aid from the government or private sources in which the institution is responsible for selecting the recipient or determining the amount of aid, or providing matching or supplementary funds for a previously determined recipient.1

Financial Aid from outside sources

• a student-athlete may receive financial aid from
• anyone on whom the recipient is naturally or legally dependent. 1
• financial aid awarded having no basis on athletic ability. 1
• financial aid from an established and continuing program even if the aid is based on athletics ability as long as the recipient's choice of institution is not restricted by the donor of the aid, and there is no direct connection between the donor and the institution. 1
• employment earnings form a student-athletes’ on-campus or off-campus employment at any time provided
• the compensation is only for work actually performed. 1
• the compensation is at a rate consistent with the going rate of that locality for similar services. 1
• the employer does not use the athletics reputation of the student-athlete employee to promote the sale of the employer’s products or services. 1
  
  

Limits for an Individual Student-Athlete

A student-athlete may receive financial aid that, is the lowest amount of the two calculations,

• either does not exceed the cost of attendance that is normally incurred by students who are enrolled in a comparable program at the institution as calculated by the institution’s financial aid office,
• or does not exceed the limitations established by the membership division of the institution that the student-athlete attends as calculated by the institution’s financial aid office. 1

Only certain types of aid are included in the individual limit and those are

• government grants that are awarded for reasons other than financial need or educational purposes,
• other scholarships and grants from the institution, outside sources, and grants-in-aid.
• gifts given to a student-athlete, after exhausting eligibility, based on athletic accomplishments,
• any bonus or salary from a professional sports organization,
• any income received from participation in an athletics event, unless eligibility has been exhausted in that sport,
• loans that are available to all students and are administered on the same basis for all students. 1

Limits for Sports

Each sport  is limited by the number of full scholarships that it can give. Any student-athlete who receives institutional financial aid based on athletic ability in any way counts towards the maximum award limitation for that sport. 1

• Examples of individual sport limitations:
• Men’s sports
• Baseball – 9 full scholarships
• Basketball – 10
• Cross Country/Track & Field – 12.6
• Football – 36
• Women’s Sports
• Basketball – 10
• Cross Country/Track & Field – 12.6
• Golf – 5.4
• Softball – 7.2
• Tennis – 6
• Volleyball – 8
• Every sport is limited each academic year to the respective individual sport limitation.1

Making sure each sport, and each-student athlete, does not exceed the individual limitation can be very tedious and time-consuming. Hopefully this condensed description can clarify and define the aspects of determining countable athletic aid.

References

1National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2016). 2016-17 NCAA Division II Manual. Indianapolis, IN: National Collegiate Athletic Association.

2National Collegiate Athletic Association. Financial Aid Information. Retrieved from http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligibility_center/Athletics_Information/FinancialAid.pdf

NCAA Division I and II Membership Requirements

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Division I currently has 346 member institutions and Division II has 307 member institutions.1 There are specific requirements that must be met by all institutions, depending on the division that the institution is a member of. More specifically, there are certain requirements that must be met by Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) members and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) members.2

Division I institutions must sponsor at least fourteen sports in total. This total can be met by sponsoring either seven sports for men and seven sports for women or by sponsoring six sports for men and eight sports for women.2 Each gender must be represented in each playing season, fall, winter, and spring.2 There are also minimum contest and participant requirements for each sport as well as scheduling criteria.2 All sports, excluding football and basketball, must play 100% of the minimum number of contests against Division I opponents.2 For additional contests that exceed the minimum requirement, half of the contests must be played against Division I institutions.2 Men’s and women’s basketball have more stringent requirements in which every contest, except for two, must be played against Division I opponents.2 Men’s basketball must play at least one-third of the total number of contests on their home court.2

Division I institutions that sponsor football are either classified as an FBS member or an FCS member. FBS institutions must average at least 15,000 people in attendance for home football games.2 This requirement must be met once in a continuous two-year period.2 FCS subdivision members are not required to meet the minimum attendance numbers.2 All sports at Division I institutions must meet minimum financial aid awards for each athletic program, and there are also maximum financial aid awards for each athletic program that must not be exceeded.2

Division II institutions must sponsor at least ten sports in total. This can be accomplished by either sponsoring five sports for men and five sports for women or four sports for men and six sports for women.2 Each playing season, fall, winter, and spring, must also be represented by each gender.2 Along with these requirements, there are also contest and participant minimums for each individual sport.2 When it comes to football and basketball, however, there are additional regulations that must be met. These sports must play at least 50 percent of their games against Division II or FBS or FCS opponents.2 There are no attendance requirements for football, or arena game requirements for basketball.2 However, there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that each institution must not exceed.

While there are many similarities between division requirements, there are also some differences that separate the two. NCAA Division I and II institutions are required to meet these regulations in order to maintain their membership.

References

1National Collegiate Athletic Association. Composition and sport sponsorship of the NCAA membership. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/about/who-we-are/membership/composition-and-sport-sponsorship-ncaa-membership?division=d1

2National Collegiate Athletic Association. Divisional Differences and the History of Multidivision Classification. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/about/who-we-are/membership/divisional-differences-and-history-multidivision-classification