What began as a temporary waiver has now become permanent: the NCAA will no longer require student-athletes to submit standardized test scores to meet initial-eligibility requirements.
Prior to April 2020, the NCAA Eligibility Center required prospective student-athletes who aspired to compete in Division I or Division II to take either the SAT or the ACT and achieve a minimum grade-point average in order to become certified as an academic qualifier. However, when test sites around the world shut their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA tried to accommodate the myriad disruptions to academic life with a series of temporary measures, including dropping the testing requirement, allowing for virtual learning, and honoring pass-fail grades.
In May 2022, we reported that the NCAA Standardized Test Score Task Force, which had been established in April 2021 to conduct a review of its testing requirements within the initial-eligibility process as part of the NCAA’s eight-point plan to advance racial equity, was recommending the removal of the test score requirement. Those recommendations were passed at the NCAA Convention, which took place last month in San Antonio, Texas.
The other academic requirements will remain in place. College-bound student-athletes planning to compete at an NCAA Division I or II school are still required to have a grade-point average of 2.3 for Division I and 2.2 for Division II in 16 NCAA-approved core-course units and provide proof of high school graduation.
Students may still need to take the SAT for admission to a particular college or university or for an academic scholarship that might complement an athletic grant, so it is up to the student to determine whether or not to take the test.
Some schools have already reinstated the SAT/ACT requirement for admissions. MIT, in particular, announced in March 2022 that it would require standardized tests from all future applicants, stating: “Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants, and also help us identify socioeconomically disadvantaged students who lack access to advanced coursework or other enrichment opportunities that would otherwise demonstrate their readiness for MIT. We believe a requirement is more equitable and transparent than a test-optional policy.” Other universities continue to assess the situation. Both Harvard and Princeton have extended their test-optional policies through the 2026 admission cycle. Still others, like the University of California system, have done away with testing permanently.
Division-specific information on initial-eligibility requirements is available here:
Division III schools, which do not offer athletic scholarships, have their own rules governing academic eligibility and amateurism. International student-athletes who plan to attend a Division III institution now have to register with NCAA Eligibility Center for an amateurism certification. Click here for more information on Division III requirements for international student-athletes.
It’s all about paying the footballers and bballers
I didn’t realize they only needed a 2.3 GPA. That’s…depressing.
it was a sliding scale. A lower GPA combined with a higher SAT or ACT and vice versa
why
Dear NCAA,
Tell me you only care about money without telling me you only care about money.
Thanks
Let colleges dictate what their entry requirements are. Use your GPA for admissions. Both my kids received more $$$ from SAT/ACT and GPA scores for academic merit then they got from athletic scholarships, even at a Power 5, D1. No scores, no academic merit. Their choice.
that used to be the case back in the 70s and before. There was no thought of the athletes/kids. Just come and play, do whatever academically, and see ya. Not good
This is the system that produced one of the best running backs in the history of the SEC. He graduated from Auburn but could not read and never went to class. https://www.diverseeducation.com/sports/article/15076738/the-james-brooks-illiteracy-scandal
If a swimmer has an academic/non athletic scholarship does that count against number of scholarships to the team?
It doesn’t. Coaches work hard to get kids academic money because it frees up their athletic scholarships.
So what? It’s the colleges/Universities that determine their admission requirements. That hasn’t changed. You’re not getting into Stanford without good SAT scores as well as a strong high school GPA. You’ll still be admitted to Alabama, Georgia, OU with weak scores if you can throw a football. They allow athletic exceptions. That has always been true.
Correction: Before you could still be admitted to Alabama, Georgia, OU to play football with weak scores unless the scores were so weak that it was clear that you were not ready to meaningfully participate in college classes. Now there are no objective standards related to academics whatsoever.
Now, to Braden’s point below, maybe that’s not all bad. Maybe even students without fundamental skills can pick them up in college with the extensive tutoring athletic departments offer and actually learn something. Realistically, though, I’m skeptical about how often that happens. But it also seems doubtful that kids who couldn’t meet the NCAA testing standards before were often going to JC or getting other academic support that they needed and then… Read more »
Professional athletes, part time students
Completely backward
those who pay the bills usually decide things on those who do not pay the bills.
As of 2020, only 8% of Div. 1 athletic programs actually turn a profit….so, they are not “paying the bills”
Yeah but a much higher percentage of football programs turn a profit. They don’t always turn enough profit to cover the swim team, but more-often-than-not they do turn a profit.
(2020 was a bad year because many/most schools didn’t have football revenue. Revert to 2019 data. 2022 has seen a return mostly to normal financially).
Unfortunately, after 2016, the NCAA stopped publishing their sport-by-sport detail summary breakdowns (that I can find, anyway – I think it exists somewhere, but not in the same format it used to). At that point, 54% of FBS football programs turned a profit, and 2% of FCS schools, turned a profit on football. 29% of the total. Anecdotal evidence indicates that COVID aside, that number… Read more »
You are 100% correct! It’s a sad state of affairs what college athletics has turned into. One of my swimmers I sent away to a big program recently told me that the coach (that I respected beforehand) told the team “athletics comes first, school second, and anything else you can fit in third”.
That sounds like Indiana. They told my son that on first recruiting call.
I know colleges have their individual requirements to apply and be accepted.
Ideally the NCAA has requirements that are high enough to show the student has some chance of graduating and some intelligence.
why.
Why the NCAA should try to have their student-athletes graduate with an education and a degree?
Sure, answer whatever you want.
If the college wants to admit someone, I don’t understand the issue
So they don’t end up like Steve Nolan.
Hey I got a 6900 on my SATs
I only got 4200 :/
Like cumulative? How many tries?
Like you got 4200 career SAT points but I also wanna know your scoring average.
Yeah Lebron is going to catch Kareem, but MJ averaged 30.1/game.
Why not get rid of NCAA qualifying requirements too??? Hah. The more the merrier.