Recruiting Essentials Mailbag: NCAA Division I Academic Eligibility Q&A
March 24, 2015
By Sean McCann
Recruiting Essentials Editor
We've received quite a few questions from readers in the last two weeks in response to the NCAA Academic Eligibility features we have posted. We've picked three of the more intriguing ones to share this week. As always, these are excerpts from longer email messages readers send in and we leave out names, schools, etc., that are mentioned in the email for privacy reasons.
My son committed to a Division I school with high standards to be admitted academically. Looking over these benchmark numbers he is going to fall short but the coaches told us that they have a “special admit” program that allows kids that play sports to get admitted if they fall below the standard requirements. He’s on track to be an NCAA qualifier, however. How does the NCAA view these “special admits”? Are they even legal?
Being an NCAA Division I qualifier makes your son eligible to practice, play and receive an athletics scholarship at a Division I school. He then must be admitted. These are two separate things. The Eligibility Center makes the call in terms of whether he is a qualifier or not and the school decides if he gets admitted.