It’s that time of the year again; school is starting up and fall sports are in full swing. With the change in season comes the many eligibility stories about how recruits are inching by and meeting their last minute eligibility requirements, or about how they must sit out a season until they are able to meet eligibility requirements.
Why does registering with the eligibility center take so long?
The NCAA eligibility process is in place to help make sure college athletes are all competing on fair grounds. Because the NCAA is the governing body for all NCAA college athletics, it’s the job of the organization to ensure all athletes are eligible to compete without any person having an unfair advantage. You may think the NCAA rules are strict and unnecessary, but if it was not for the rules then anyone would be able to compete at the college level; professionals and non-students. The NCAA is there to enforce eligibility rules and keep everyone on fair playing grounds.
Make sure you are prepared to meet eligibility requirements
As a student-athlete you have worked your hardest through high school in hopes of securing a spot on a college team. This is great, college coaches want to recruit serious players, but they also need to know you are able to meet the academic requirements too. This is where most eligibility miscommunications happen; high school athletes don’t consider what courses or college tests they need to take until the last minute.
Don’t get caught in the waiting game with the Eligibility Center
We hear it all the time; senior year high school student’s frantically call us up to see if we can help them get registered with the Eligibility Center (NCAA Clearinghouse). Of course we are here to help and to walk you through the steps you need to take to become eligible, but it is up to you to get all the information to the NCAA Eligibility Center PRONTO!
Not knowing about the registering process is not the only reason eligibility is delayed: recruits across the nation and around the world all have to go through the eligibility process if they plan to compete at an NCAA college, so make sure you know how it works and what you need so you don’t have to wait around to be cleared.
Some other reasons for the delay in eligibility include:
- Retaking a course during summer school
- Your high school information has not been updated with the NCAA Eligibility Center
- You did not have your high school send in your official transcripts,
- You did not have your ACT, SAT sent to the NCAA Eligibility Center,
- You did not complete all the sections in your NCAA online profile
The list can go on and on; the moral is to make sure you have everything up to date and ready when it comes time to register with the Eligibility Center.
If you have any other questions about preparing to register with the NCAA eligibility center than leave your comment below and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.