Prepared for the April 2007 NCAA Divisions I and II Management Council
and
NCAA Division I Board of Directors/NCAA Division II Presidents Council
Creation of the
The
Staffing the
The eligibility center has hired its leadership team and, to date, has 14 employees. The eligibility center is lead by Todd Leyden, President. Hiring of staff is ongoing and should be completed by October 31, 2007.
Timeline.
The eligibility center will begin operations October 29.
Transition from ACT to the
The NCAA’s current contract with ACT expires October 31. NCAA and eligibility center staffs are working with ACT to ensure a seamless transition of services to member institutions and prospective student-athletes. This transition will not be simple or easy and every effort is being made to ensure high-quality service this summer to the membership and prospective student-athletes.
Early Certification Concept.
During the process of considering whether to renew the current ACT contract or pursue other options, and as part of a broader discussion about improving the quality of service, the staff considered two concerns echoed often by the Division I and II memberships that the final-certification process takes place perilously close to reporting dates for summer camps and the start of fall classes, and that preliminary certifications occur too late to be helpful as a tool for advising a prospective student-athlete with regards to their academic behaviors (e.g., test taking, completion of required core courses).
Colleges and universities frequently admit students during the students’ senior year after receipt of a six-semester high school transcript and test score. NCAA initial-eligibility rules currently
make no similar provision for an “early qualifier” status. Requiring an eight-semester transcript for all students seeking NCAA initial-academic eligibility results in a clustering of the vast majority of final certifications in the months of July and August. From a business processing standpoint, as well as customer service, this has been a less-than-ideal scenario.
The NCAA staff recommends that the Division I and II memberships consider an early certification process in which a reasonable percentage of anticipated qualifiers would become qualifiers after six semesters of high school. This is similar to the college early admissions process. The NCAA staff believes this concept has merit and is working with the research staff to provide the Division I and II governance structures with the data necessary to consider this concept throughout 2007. If supported, legislation could be introduced in the upcoming legislative cycles for both divisions that would provide for early final certifications for academically, well qualified prospective student-athletes.
As a pilot, the staff recommends that the Division I and II Management Councils and presidential bodies give strong consideration to adopting an automatic initial-eligibility waiver provision for the class of 2007 only that would permit the immediate movement of approximately 25 percent of the prospective student-athletes to final certification, based on academic information currently in the clearinghouse database. The NCAA research staff will provide more details during the April meetings with the specific waiver requirements. The goal would be to identify, based on immediately available academic information, those prospective student-athletes who predict to be qualifiers. This pilot-waiver process would be evaluated by the appropriate governance bodies this fall as the structures consider early certification legislative proposals.
This waiver provision has impact as follows:
1. Provides a pilot opportunity for further long-term contemplation of this concept by the governance structures in Divisions I and II.
2. Protects the integrity of the intent of the initial-eligibility academic standards by basing the waiver criteria on the same key components now used in the process (i.e., test scores, grades, core courses) and setting standards that result in early qualifier status for predicted qualifiers.