NCAA

The NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletic Association, is an organization that governs college and university athletic programs including setting the standards for eligibility. Student athletes who want to play sports in college must maintain NCAA eligibility by taking 16 NCAA approved core classes. Core classes are comprised of English, social studies, science, and math, foreign language, and comparative religion or philosophy. For division 1 schools, the courses must be comprised of the following:

  • 4 year English
  • 3 years math (Algebra I or higher)
  • 2 years natural or physical science
  • 1 year additional English, math, or natural/physical science
  • 2 years social science
  • 4 years addition from areas above, foreign language, comparative religion, or philosophy

Students must complete 10 of these credits before their senior year while maintaining a cumulative 2.3 GPA. Students who fail to maintain eligibility do not have to forfeit their sport completely, but may be required to ‘red shirt’ their freshman year. Academic redshirt has specific requirements that allow students to become NCAA eligible by being academically successful their first year in college/university. Students who redshirt may be able to practice with the team, but will not be allowed to compete.

For full NCAA rules and expectations, visit the eligibility center.

Courses at Educational Advantage are not currently NCAA approved, however we have started the process to earn approval. Student athletes interested in playing sports in college should carefully consider the courses they take so as not to jeopardize their eligibility. We encourage all student athletes to talk to our administrative team before registering for classes.  As a general rule, student athletes wishing to take online classes can safely take any elective, fine arts, CTE, or PE class without NCAA eligibly interference.