CORE MATTERS

A periodic newsletter from CoreCourseGPA.com

Designed to keep you informed on issues impacting NCAA and NAIA initial-eligibility and provide helpful software tips and best practices for increased student-athlete engagement.

Last Chance for Juniors to Meet 10/7 Core Credit Standard

The calendar may have just turned to 2015, but the 2016 NCAA initial-eligibility changes start now for your juniors.

To be a full qualifier and play as a freshman at a DI school, your juniors must complete 10 NCAA core courses, including 7 in English, math or science, prior to the start of their senior year. This semester is their last regular semester to complete the 10 required core course credits. For those who fall short, only summer school would remain as a final opportunity to make up credit deficiencies.

Also, the 10 credits completed are then "locked in" for NCAA core course GPA calculations, meaning no senior year retakes for a better grade.

This rule will likely trip up more athletes than the minimum GPA increase to 2.30, because it cuts across the entire GPA spectrum. A student with a 4.0 GPA but only 9 core course credits completed would fall short and lose DI full qualifier status.

If any of your junior, sophomore or freshman student-athletes are not yet tracking their core course credits, the time to start is now!

Freshmen First to Face Higher NCAA DII Standards

In addition to the 2016 changes for DI, your current freshmen are the first class required to also meet increased standards for NCAA DII initial-eligibility.

For the class of 2018 and beyond, the DII minimum core GPA increases from a 2.00 to a 2.20. In addition, the previously static 820 SAT or 68 ACT minimum test score requirements are replaced by test score sliding scales based on the core course GPA. The new sliding scales used by DII are different than the scales used for DI eligibility.

4 Classes/3 Rules Summary Table

With three different sets of NCAA DI/DII initial-eligibility rules currently in place for the four graduating classes in your school, it's easy to get confused!

To help out, we have a put together a summary table for the classes of 2015-2018.

All of these changes are incorporated into our software, so each student-athlete gets an accurate report no matter when they graduate.

Is Your List of NCAA Core Classes Up-to-date?

Keeping your school's List of NCAA Courses current is a critical step in accurately calculating core course credits. At least annually, you should review your school's published course list on the NCAA EC website. Then, whenever changes are published, send a quick email to support@corecoursegpa.com and we will update your course list in our software.

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