JenneinCA Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 This is a very hypothetical situation but if it is going to be a problem I need to be prepared sooner rather than later. Ds11 enjoys swimming. He is currently swimming with a year round swim team and having a great time. He is in the group below the kids that are making A and AA and B and BB times. He is not producing competitive times at all. He is getting stronger and better but is not motivated enough to swim super hard or super fast. He is mostly an 11 year old boy that likes the water and the friends and his swim coach. Here is the problem. Big brother started community college this year at the age of 14 and is being successful and doing well. I completely expect that ds11 will be ready in a few years to do the same thing. That is, he will very likely go to the local community college very young. This community college does not have a pool or a swim team. There is no way he could swim for this school. He would most likely continue swimming with his current swim club in whatever group he gets placed in. They have several levels for kids that range from possibly going to Olympic trials to swimming mostly for fitness and fun. Even for the high school age kids. So I don't think he will want to do division 1 swimming and at this point he is not capable of division 1 swimming. But if he suddenly decides that swimming is super important and that he wants to swim fast and swim division 1 what effect will starting community college early have on his eligibility? Sorry for the long question. I don't know how to come up with a shorter way to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 It is hard to get a straight answer from NCAA and they tend to change their rules without always grandfathering in those who started high school under different rules. When we researched this we got conflicting answers as to whether or not dual enrollment would start the clock on eligibility. It was a couple years ago but the conclusion I came to was that we would be ok if he stayed under full time enrollment. If he went over it seemed iffy. So we decided ds would never take more than 11 hours per semester just to be safe. I hope someone else can give you a more definitive answer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 I called the NCAA about this just a few weeks ago. What I was told was that as long as my child has not yet graduated from high school, the dual-enrollment classes will not count against his eligibility. I don't have it in writing, but that is what I was told. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Generally, I think planning too far ahead with the NCAA can make you crazy. But you should definitely stay under full time enrollment and have everything DE. Do not swim with a cc team or junior college team, stay with club. DI swimming for boys is hard (smaller number of programs and very little money compared to women's swimming). At 11, you still have no idea how big or fast or hard working they will become. But....right now.... He sounds like a great candidate for a D3 program at a great academic school. Swimming will be a hook for admissions, but not a lock. Concentrate on a great high school education, swim as much as he wants and have fun with his sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Thank you for the information. I will think about it some more. Part of the problem is he is very unlikely to stay below full time for the time at the community college. If he does want to swim in a division 3 school when he gets there (likely when he gets to a more typical age for being away from home) is that even possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 as long as my child has not yet graduated from high school, the dual-enrollment classes will not count against his eligibility. Ds graduated with 69 CC credits and is playing basketball for an NCAA Division 2 school. He took 4 classes each semester junior and senior year. Don't worry. Don't swim for a college team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 How do they determine full time? Is it automatically four classes or 12 semester hours or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Thank you for the information. I will think about it some more. Part of the problem is he is very unlikely to stay below full time for the time at the community college. If he does want to swim in a division 3 school when he gets there (likely when he gets to a more typical age for being away from home) is that even possible? My ds will be a D3 athlete and we kept him below full time just in case. He had some interest from D1 and D2 schools at that time and we just really didn't know what he would want to do. Ultimately, though, we decided to take care of his education first and the sports chips would fall where they fall. It was easy to keep ds under full time. He took online AP classes and he had other things he wanted to do. Two or three courses per semester fit his goals. If my ds had really needed or wanted to take the full load as DE, he would have done that at risk of messing up his sports. If I was you I would allow him to take as many DE as necessary, operating on the premise that the NCAA will honor what they have said about cc classes being fine as long as he is in high school. So much can happen on the sports side. I would follow the rules as you see them now and focus on his education. Would be a shame to sacrifice educational goals when the sports picture is so unclear. Just my opinion! If we were talking about a kid on pace for a full D1 scholarship that would be different but those are so rare :( Definitely do not swim for a college team and maintain all records, etc. to show the courses are taken as a high school student. Take care of academics while the swimming works itself out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 I personally think ds was waved through NCAA eligibility due to his CC classes. They surely demonstrate college preparedness to the NCAA and target colleges/universities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 D3 does not have to go through the clearinghouse. I don't know about eligibility rules for D3. But I would concentrate on doing/getting the best education possible and applying to schools that he loves. If they have a team, he would surely be able to swim there. Lots of girls swim DI, at all kinds of levels. But boys, it is really different, much harder, much less money, even for kids with jr national times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 Thank you all for your help. I think right now we are going to concentrate on school and having fun swimming and revisit this later. Right now his goal is to get the eight dolphin kicks before surfacing after a flip turn that his coach wants him to have. My goal is for him to enjoy doing something active. Together we will take it one day at a time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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