2025-26 Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete

 Students who enroll full time at an NCAA Division I school this fall must graduate high school and meet ALL the following requirements:

•    Complete 16 core courses:

o   Four years of English

o  Three years of math (Algebra 1 or higher)

o  Two years of natural/physical science (including one year of lab science if your high school offers it)

o  One additional year of English, math or natural/physical science

o  Two years of social science

o  Four additional years of English, math, natural/physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion or philosophy

 •  Complete 10 core courses, including seven in English, math or natural/physical science, before the start of the seventh semester. Once students begin their seventh semester, they must have more than 10 core courses completed to be able to repeat or replace any of the 10 courses used in the preliminary academic certification.

•  Earn at least a 2.3 GPA in their core courses.

•  Earn an SAT combined score or ACT sum score matching their core-course GPA on the Division I sliding scale, which balances their test score and core-course GPA. If students have a low test score, they will need a higher core-course GPA to be eligible. If they have a low core-course GPA, they will need a higher test score to be eligible.  

 In order for a student's academic certification to be processed, the student must have ACT or SAT scores submitted to the NCAA Eligibility Center directly from the testing agency. Click here for step-by-step instructions on how they can request to have their test scores sent.

Test scores on a high school transcript will not be used. Students may take the ACT or the SAT an unlimited number of times prior to full-time collegiate enrollment, and the best score will be used in the final academic certification. Test scores are matched to the student's NCAA Eligibility Center account by name, date of birth and address.

Note: If a student takes the current SAT before March 2016 and then takes the redesigned SAT, which will be offered beginning March 2016, the NCAA Eligibility Center will not combine section scores from the current and redesigned SAT when determining a student's initial eligibility. The NCAA Eligibility Center will only combine section scores from the same version of the test. Because the redesigned SAT varies in design and measures different academic concepts than the current SAT, a numerical score on the current test may not be equivalent to the same numerical score on the redesigned test. 

For students and parents with eligibility questions:
877/262-1492 (toll free)
317/917-6222
Transcript/Document Mailing Address
NCAA Eligibility Center
Certification Processing
P.O. Box 7136
Indianapolis, IN 46207
Overnight/Express Mailing Address
NCAA Eligibility Center
Certification Processing
1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Customer Service Hours
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time 
Monday through Friday
Fax number: 317/968-5100
Toll-free phone number (U.S. callers and Canada except Quebec):  877/262-1492 

 To date, over 15,000 high schools have used the transcript upload feature for more than 325,000 transcripts. Encourage your student-athletes to have their counselor use this upload feature for all preliminary and final transcripts, as it significantly reduces processing time for student accounts. As a reminder, when students register with the NCAA Eligibility Center, the student must accept the Terms and Conditions, which provides broad permission for all schools to share official high school transcripts and academic records with the NCAA Eligibility Center.

 As I am sure you are aware, the SAT rolled out a new test.  The NCAA recently released their Concordance Table which is certain to catch some high school athletes off guard. For instance, if a student scored a 900 in the NEW test, the NCAA will view that test result as an 820 for initial eligibility requirements: Concordance Table (see page two of link) 

The start of a new semester is always a great time to check your school's list of NCAA courses with the courses your student-athletes are taking. A list that has not been updated recently could delay your graduating seniors' academic certification or prevent them from meeting the academic requirements. If your school's list is not up-to-date, reach out to your school's counselors to have them update the list to ensure those core courses can be used in your student-athletes' certifications. 

As of January 2023, standardized test scores are not required for all student-athletes who initially enroll full time on or after August 1, 2023. During the 2023 NCAA Convention, Divisions I and II adopted legislation to remove standardized test scores for these students. The vote was based on the recommendation from the Standardized Test Score Task Force, a specialized group charged with reviewing initial-eligibility requirements as part of the NCAA's eight-point plan to advance racial equality.

Among other requirements, college-bound student-athletes planning to compete at an NCAA Division I or II school are still required to have a 2.3 (DI)/2.2 (DII) grade point average in 16 NCAA-approved core-course units and provide proof of high school graduation. Division-specific information on initial-eligibility requirements is available here:

•Division I.

•Division II.

•Division III: Click here for more information on Division III requirements for international student-athletes. Student-athletes planning to attend a Division III school are not required to have an academic certification from the Eligibility Center but may be required to have an amateurism certification.

Students should also check with the NCAA school they plan to attend regarding whether standardized test scores are necessary for admission or scholarship requirements. Please contact NCAA Customer Service at 877-262-1492 with questions.