NCAA Requirements

[Reefgazer]

Can someone point me to information on what a student has to do to be eligible to play sports in college?  I know I saw some packet somewhere and it we had to register with the organization; I think it said in the junior year?  Can you register early,. or must it be in the junior year?  I know I have to fill out course worksheets.  Who signs those, me or an outside co-op teacher that taught the class?  Lots of questions and I'm not sure where to start.  What are the pitfalls for us here?  Oh, hell, I don't even know how one goes about marketing the student for this or how they get recruited.  DS just told me this is a goal of his.

[easypeasy]

You *can* register early - but there is NO REASON to do so. The registration needs to be completed before the student can go on any official visits, but there isn't an enormous advantage to getting it in super early, so you have time. It's also advantageous to wait because the NCAA CHANGES their regulations too frequently. Best to wait until it's Game Time and use their current regulations and build from that at the right timeline.

Do a search (possibly on the College Board) - there have been some good threads on this in the past. But, basically - don't panic. The NCAA's main goal is to ensure that the high school student has, indeed, completed high school-level work. So, only list coursework and texts that ARE high school level or above (for instance, if you used a junior-high-level book as a supplement to a curriculum, don't list it. It'll just confuse them. Instead, only list the high-school-or-above texts that were used for that course). Having a co-op teacher sign is a major PITA (the coursework has to be approved by the NCAA, or at least, that's how it worked when DD went through the process in 2016). I always signed the paperwork as the registered TEACHER and listed any co-op or online teacher as an advisor for the course. I was the final-grade-giver and assignment-master, so I felt 100% good about this decision since I was the Captain of that Ship, so to speak.

Also, keep course titles simple. Don't name your American History course "Journeys Through the New World in Times of Turmoil" or somesuch. Just name it American History , Honors American History, or AP U.S. History (and make sure you've officially registered that AP class through the College Board if you're teaching it yourself because you'll want to send in that paperwork as well) and be done with it.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. But what I learned was that it's waaay easier than we homechooling moms make it out to be. The NCAA just wants to check the boxes in the simplest way and move on (and take your $$$... which is why they ENCOURAGE registering as early as possible. So many people register when their kid is a sophomore or junior and then the kid changes their mind... but you're still out the registration $).

Here are some links to help:

http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/home-school-students

https://homeschoolsuccess.com/ncaa-eligibility-for-homeschoolers/

Edited August 29, 2020 by easypeasy

[Reefgazer]

7 hours ago, easypeasy said:

You *can* register early - but there is NO REASON to do so. The registration needs to be completed before the student can go on any official visits, but there isn't an enormous advantage to getting it in super early, so you have time. It's also advantageous to wait because the NCAA CHANGES their regulations too frequently. Best to wait until it's Game Time and use their current regulations and build from that at the right timeline.

Do a search (possibly on the College Board) - there have been some good threads on this in the past. But, basically - don't panic. The NCAA's main goal is to ensure that the high school student has, indeed, completed high school-level work. So, only list coursework and texts that ARE high school level or above (for instance, if you used a junior-high-level book as a supplement to a curriculum, don't list it. It'll just confuse them. Instead, only list the high-school-or-above texts that were used for that course). Having a co-op teacher sign is a major PITA (the coursework has to be approved by the NCAA, or at least, that's how it worked when DD went through the process in 2016). I always signed the paperwork as the registered TEACHER and listed any co-op or online teacher as an advisor for the course. I was the final-grade-giver and assignment-master, so I felt 100% good about this decision since I was the Captain of that Ship, so to speak.

Also, keep course titles simple. Don't name your American History course "Journeys Through the New World in Times of Turmoil" or somesuch. Just name it American History , Honors American History, or AP U.S. History (and make sure you've officially registered that AP class through the College Board if you're teaching it yourself because you'll want to send in that paperwork as well) and be done with it.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. But what I learned was that it's waaay easier than we homechooling moms make it out to be. The NCAA just wants to check the boxes in the simplest way and move on (and take your $$$... which is why they ENCOURAGE registering as early as possible. So many people register when their kid is a sophomore or junior and then the kid changes their mind... but you're still out the registration $).

Here are some links to help:

http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/home-school-students

https://homeschoolsuccess.com/ncaa-eligibility-for-homeschoolers/

Thanks so much for all this info!  

Regarding the bolded:  It's OK for me to sign as the teacher then?  We did not do tests for ths class; will that be an issue?  We did readings, discussions, and written assignments only in a standard high school level text.

[Caraway]

There is a really active and helpful FB group called "Homeschool and NCAA Academic Eligibility" if you are interested.

[Lori D.]

^^^ Caraway's link sounds ideal.

Also, while they are a few years old, there is a boatload of links to past WTM threads on various NCAA topics, all linked on PAGE 4 of the College Motherlode pinned thread at the top of the WTM college board.

[easypeasy]

15 hours ago, Reefgazer said:

Thanks so much for all this info!  

Regarding the bolded:  It's OK for me to sign as the teacher then?  We did not do tests for ths class; will that be an issue?  We did readings, discussions, and written assignments only in a standard high school level text.

 

You just have to write a written class description for each class (at least, in 2016, that was how it worked). Just ensure that the description adequately explains the standard of assessment (discussion, essay assignments, whatever). They don't care if tests were given - only that the material taught and understood was at high school level or above.

Caraway's FB group probably has a plethora of up-to-date folks who would be happy to help as you navigate through the process! Just remember the age-old K.I.S.S. It was my mantra through the process - keeping it as thorough, clean, and easy-to-understand for the NCAA as I could! Her paperwork was approved within a day!

[AStableBeginning]

I second the FB group! We registered our daughter in Freshman year because she qualified for the highest level of competition, JO Nationals, and the coaching pool wanted a number. 

I just submitted her CCW’s Monday morning and she was certified “Early Academic Qualifier” with 15/16 courses approved by Thursday morning! She was also offered a spot on the gymnastics team at a school she loves on Thursday afternoon!
Excited and relieved to be done with the whole process! 

[Alice]

You probably know this, but you don’t have to register if you are going to do D3 sports. Makes life a lot easier. 🙂