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Parents: Tips on Monitoring Eligibility, Amateurism

The following information is from the 2007-08 Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, which can be (found here). If you are the parent or legal guardian of a potential student-athlete, please pay special attention to the amateurism and academic eligibility and eligibility center sections.

Amateurism and Academic Eligibility

If your child plans to compete, practice or receive an athletics scholarship at a Division I or II college, he or she must meet the eligibility requirements on pages five to 11 of the 2007-08 Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete, which can be (found here).

Eligibility Center Registration:

Transcript and Test-Score Submissions

It is best for your son or daughter to register with the eligibility center at the beginning of his or her junior year. Once registered, your son or daughter must ask the high school counselor or registrar to send his or her academic transcripts to the eligibility center. ACT or SAT score(s) also must be submitted to the eligibility center. Your son or daughter must list the eligibility center as a separate recipient of his or her ACT or SAT scores when he or she takes the test. The test scores must come directly from SAT or ACT. The eligibility center will not accept test scores reported on the high school transcript. The eligibility center will typically review your son’s or daughter’s high school record and send a preliminary report to him or her, with notification of any missing requirements. A final report may be issued once your son’s or daughter’s high school submits a final transcript showing high school graduation. Please call the NCAA Eligibility Center at 877/262-1492 if you have any questions.

How to Monitor Your Son’s or Daughter’s Eligibility

You may check the NCAA Eligibility Center website to make sure your son or daughter is taking approved courses. A list of core courses should have been submitted to the NCAA Eligibility Center by your son’s or daughter’s high school. Check your son’s or daughter’s schedule before each year in high school to make certain that he or she is taking the required courses. NCAA colleges may obtain information from the eligibility center about your son’s or daughter’s status and progress only if his or her information is specifically requested by that college.

Financial Aid

If your son or daughter is academically eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics and is accepted as a full-time student at a Division I or II school, he or she may receive athletics-based financial aid from the school. Division I or II financial aid may include tuition and fees, room and board, and books.

Division III institutions do not award financial aid based on athletics ability. A Division III college may award need-based or academically related financial aid. A nonqualifier may receive only need-based financial aid (aid unrelated to athletics). A nonqualifier also may receive nonathletics aid from private sources or government programs (such as Pell grants). The college financial aid office can provide further information. It is important to understand several points about athletics scholarships from Divisions I and II schools:

• All athletics scholarships awarded by NCAA institutions are limited to one year and are renewable annually. There is no such award as a four-year athletics scholarship.
  
• Athletics scholarships may be renewed annually for a maximum of five years within a six-year period of continuous college attendance. Athletics aid may be canceled or reduced at the end of each year for any reason.
  
• Athletics scholarships are awarded in a variety of amounts, ranging from full scholarships (including tuition, fees, room and board, and books) to very small scholarships (e.g., books only).
  
• The total amount of financial aid a student-athlete may receive and the total amount of athletics aid a team may receive can be limited. These limits can affect whether a student-athlete may accept additional financial aid from other sources. Ask financial aid officials at the college or university about any other financial aid your son or daughter might be eligible to receive, and how this aid impacts his or her athletics aid limit. You must inform the college financial aid office about scholarships received from all sources, such as local civic or booster clubs.
  
• An athletics scholarship is a tremendous benefit to most families, but you should also have a plan to pay for college costs that are not covered by a scholarship (such as travel between home and school). You should also consider how you will finance your son’s or daughter’s education if the athletics scholarship is reduced or canceled.