Initial Eligibility
All freshmen fall under NCAA Initial Eligibility Rules during their first year of attendance. Simply, in order to compete during your first year of college you must be certified as “eligible” by the NCAA’s Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse. This is a private firm hired by the NCAA to process your high school transcript and test scores to determine whether you meet minimum standards.
What they look for: The minimum standards for initial eligibility are met easily by most graduates of public high schools throughout the country. For Division 2 sports (all sports at UMass Lowell except Ice Hockey) the NCAA requires that you have earned a “C” average in a core course curriculum with a minimum combined SAT score of 820 or ACT aggregate score of 68. Division 1 (Ice Hockey) standards are a bit more complicated. ALL the details are found in the NCAA publication “Guide for the College Bound Student-Athlete” available on line from the NCAA at www.NCAA.org in their library or at hwww.ncaaclearinghouse.net/ncaa/NCAA/common/index.html .
How you establish eligibility: All incoming freshmen should, during their junior year or early in their senior year of high school, register with the Clearinghouse. U.S. students should use the “Domestic Student Release Form” link and foreign students should use the “Foreign Student Release form” link. This will cost (as of 2006) $50, which can be paid by credit card. It is CRITICALLY important that you read ALL material presented on the registration website. You will be provided a form that must be brought to your high school guidance office, which will function as an order form requesting your guidance office to send your preliminary transcript and test scores to the Clearinghouse. After graduation, you MUST remind your guidance office to send your FINAL transcript, completely graded and credited, with proof and date of graduation, to the Clearinghouse as well.
Test score advice: Beginning in 2007, it is advised that all prospects request that the College Board or ACT testing services send their test scores directly to the Clearinghouse. This can be done while registering for your exam by including college code “9999” as one of your choices for receiving test results. The NCAA Clearinghouse does NOT accept Student Score reports or Test Score results that are downloaded from the web. Your college admissions office or high school guidance office may find these sufficient but the Clearinghouse requires either direct test agency reports or official High School or College Score reports! If you must create an additional score report to send to the Clearinghouse this may cost an extra $10 at your test service web site.
Address and Phone numbers for the Clearinghouse are available at their website.
It is STRONGLY advised that you register with the Clearinghouse DURING your senior year; the earlier, the better. If fall sport athletes are not registered and transcripts and test scores received prior to your graduation, you may not have eligibility for your team’s first contests!
Special Circumstances: There are special rules for students who were home schooled. Please note the specific instructions at the Clearinghouse website:
Students with learning disabilities, who may have had either specialized courses in high school or who may have taken non-standard SAT or ACT exams should register their circumstances with the NCAA Clearinghouse. When the learning disability check box on the Student Release registration form is checked, the student will receive information from the NCAA as to the additional material required. Then the NCAA Clearinghouse will automatically process the specific NCAA accommodations for your certification. Further information is available at the NCAA website by clicking on NCAA News and searching for “Learning Disability.” It is strongly advised that students with learning disabilities begin the process as early during their senior year as possible. The documentation required takes considerably longer for you to assemble and them to process.
Students who attended more than one high school, must present to the Clearinghouse an ORIGINAL transcript from each high school attended. Again, this may take a while to obtain and it is advised that you begin the process early! Most high schools discard your previous high school’s transcript after they have posted the information on your current transcript. This information is not usable by the Clearinghouse. They must receive an original transcript, sealed, directly from each high school you attended (9th grade on).
If you wish to hurry information to the Clearinghouse and arrange to mail it yourself, please read the following carefully. All material acceptable to the Clearinghouse must arrive there in a sealed envelope on high school stationery. Please have your guidance office prepare such information, seal it in their own envelope, and address it to the Clearinghouse. This SEALED envelope may then be inserted in your OWN overnight mailer and sent to the address on the Clearinghouse website. PLEASE use a mailing service that provides you with a tracking number, but do NOT use Registered or Certified mail as this actually delays the process. Provide our Compliance office (978-934-2329) with this tracking number and the compliance office will chase your records through the process.
FINALLY, it is important that YOU, the prospective student-athlete, carry out these steps yourself. YOU should register with the Clearinghouse, create YOUR own PIN (one that YOU can remember) on their site, follow up with YOUR guidance office after graduation, and visit the Clearinghouse website often to follow your progress. The NCAA and this institution insist that, as a young adult, YOU are responsible for establishing your eligibility, not your parents, not us!