An eligibility checklist for athletes and parents.

College coaches can fall in love with your film. They can show up on Friday night, call your high school coach, and tell you they want you on campus next year. None of that puts you on the field if you cannot get certified.

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Grades are your first offer.

Everything else is a conversation until the classroom work is done.

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The problem I keep seeing

I work with high school and youth players in Utah, and I see the same pattern too often. The highlight reel gets sharper. The camp list gets longer. Then a family sits down with a counselor and finds out the GPA they have been celebrating is not the GPA the NCAA uses.

Or a kid rolls into senior year short on approved core courses, and the 10/7 clock already ran out the summer before. That is a painful surprise. I would rather have the honest conversation now.

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Talent gets you noticed. Grades get you eligible.

If you cannot practice, compete, and receive athletics aid in year one, the offer was never finished.

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My answer

I tell every athlete I train the same thing. Treat the classroom like practice. Show up, take the right courses, and earn the best grades you can in the classes that actually count. Respect the process.

We offer the kid, but we recruit the family. Parents, this is your lane too. You do not need to become a compliance officer. You do need to know the approved course list, know the calendar, and sit with the counselor before the schedule is locked.

Start early. The NCAA wants a free Profile Page in place before ninth grade. If Division I or II is the plan, get the Academic and Athletics Certification account set up by sophomore year, and definitely before an official visit or an athletics aid agreement. Do not wait for a coach to ask for your NCAA ID. Have it ready.

What actually counts

Not every class on a transcript is an NCAA core course. Weight training and a lot of electives will not help you here. A course counts only if it is on your high school's NCAA-approved list, in the right subject area, and taught under the school's normal academic rules.

The Eligibility Center calculates a core-course GPA on a 4.0 scale from those approved classes only. Plus and minus grades are not used. A B+, a B, and a B- are all worth 3 points. The cumulative GPA on the report card can look fine, and the NCAA number can still come in short. If a kid takes the same material twice, credit is earned only once, and the higher grade is the one that counts.

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Division I core courses

16 approved core courses, finished in four consecutive academic years from the start of ninth grade:

• 4 years of English
• 3 years of math at Algebra I or higher
• 2 years of natural or physical science, including one year of lab if the school offers it
• 1 additional year of English, math, or science
• 2 years of social science
• 4 additional core courses, which can include the subjects above, a world language, comparative religion, or philosophy </aside>

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Division II core courses

16 approved core courses, with a different mix:

• 3 English
• 2 math at Algebra I or higher
• 2 science with a lab year if offered
• 3 extra English, math, or science
• 2 social science
• 4 additional core courses </aside>

Check the list with the counselor before you finalize a schedule. You can find your school's approved courses at eligibilitycenter.org.

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Test scores no longer decide NCAA eligibility.

In January 2023, NCAA Divisions I and II removed SAT and ACT scores from initial-eligibility requirements, effective for students first enrolling full time on or after August 1, 2023. The old sliding scale that paired a GPA with a test score is no longer how NCAA eligibility is decided. A school can still ask for a test score for admissions or a scholarship. Eligibility and admissions are not the same thing.

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