Academic Standards and the NCAA

Abstract

In March, a federal court in Philadelphia enjoined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from enforcing Proposition 16, its rule for determining whether a high school student athlete can be recruited by Division I colleges and universities. Under Proposition 16, a high school graduate with a 2.0 GPA in core academic subjects becomes a "full qualifier" by scoring 1010 on the SAT. If his GPA is as high as 2.5, he can qualify with a score of 820 on the SAT. (A student can offer comparable ACT scores as well.) As a full qualifier, he is eligible to receive an athletic scholarship and immediately play a varsity sport. A high school graduate can score as low as 720 on the SAT and still become a "partial qualifier" if the sum of his test score and GPA is at least as high as that of a full qualifier. In other words, he can partially compensate for a below-minimum test score by a very good GPA. As a partial qualifier, he is eligible to receive an athletic scholarship but not to play during his freshman year. Any high school student who fails to satisfy one of these two conditions can enter a Division I institution only as a paying, regular student.