National Collegiate Athletic Association Eligibility

Do student athletes make the most of their opportunity to obtain a post-secondary education? Do they have the same academic success as those students that are not athletes? Are student athletes just “dumb jocks?” The answers to these questions might surprise you. Much research has been done to dispel the myth that athletes going to college are only there to play sports with little regard to their education. Programs have been created to assure that colleges and universities hold athletes to the same standards as the everyday student. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has decided that the “magic number” to put the “student” back into “student-athlete” is 925 (Hamilton).

In his article “The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch (2011) describes how universities are focused on advancing and receiving money from major athletics and having star athletes, but how the universities are not caring for the “student athlete.” The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made college sports into an unmerited business. However, as years progress more athletes are getting smart and are taking the NCAA to court. The more students that challenges the rules by the NCAA and take them to court, the secrets and undermining values of the NCAA come out and the closer the NCAA comes to an end.

For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances

As the governing body over collegiate sports, the NCAA demands athletes to maintain an amateur status while competing throughout their collegiate career. With global recruiting becoming more common, determining the amateur status of prospective student-athletes can be challenging. All student-athletes, including international students, are required to adhere to NCAA amateurism requirements to remain eligible for intercollegiate competition.(NCAA) To maintain amateur status, student athletes must not obtain contracts with professional teams, salary for participating in athletics, prize money above actual and necessary expenses, benefits from an agent or prospective agent, agreement to be represented by an agent, nor delayed initial full-time collegiate enrollment to participate in organized sports competition. They are also unable to tryout, practice, or compete with a professional team.(NCAA)

For instance, “To be an eligible to participate in athletics as an incoming freshman you have to be admitted into one of our baccalaureate programs, pass (or be exempt from) all three assessment tests and be registered for full-time load of credits (12 or more).”

The NCAA is an organization, founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, led by a group of board members who’s goal is to have college players succeed both athletically and scholarly; coined the term ‘student athlete.’ The sport of football was having many problems in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s and President Roosevelt said, “reform the game or it will be abolished.” Thus, the birth of the NCAA was formed and rules were set to make the game safer to the athletes. The NCAA currently has three different divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III. Each division has its own set of rules on what restrictions are placed. Division I is said to be the most competitive division where the top talent goes and where a lot of professional teams pull from. The NCAA is the main headline for all college sporting events and “runs the show” telling what people can, and cannot, do. The

The NCAA has relied heavily on the age-old characterization of college athletes as “amateurs” who are first and foremost “student-athletes” (Sanderson and Siegfried). Because they are considered students and

While football players at the University of Illinois are working at their sport or performing their sport nearly 32 hours a week, which is all right after coming from a full class schedule. The NCAA wants to treat student athletes like regular students, when these athletes are the farthest thing from being regular students. These athletes are expected just like the rest of the student body to perform at their highest capability in the classroom, but as well at their peak athletic ability in practice or in a game right after they have spent the day draining themselves into their school

In 1952, as collegiate sports continue to gain a widespread of interest, the NCAA felt the need to meet the social demand of the American society and began legalizing the use of athletic scholarship as a form of recruiting high performing athletes to higher educational institute (A History, 2014). In 1973, the NCAA decided to divide collegiate sports into three types of divisions, Division I, Division II, and Division III, causing collegiate sports to be grouped based on their competitiveness (Smith, 2000). Currently, the NCAA only provides scholarships to athletes at Division I

Ever since football gained fame and became a major sport in the United States, the players that play this sport started receiving special treatment. Division 1 college football has become a huge program in this country now and it is run under certain guidelines that are established by NCAA. It requires students to take sixteen essential courses and students are then made eligible based on a sliding scale. Sliding scale a student can have a GPA of 2.0 and have SAT scored of 1010 or have a SAT score of 400 and GPA of 3.55. Athletes have the comfort zone of becoming eligible through their either strong testing skills or their strong academic skills. They can make up for their deficiency in grades through strong test scores or they can make up

Despite the many stereotypes that are connected with being a student athlete, student athletes in general are held to much higher standards by their institutions. Before a prospective student athlete even enters college, they are made fully aware of the academic standings and requirements of the college they choose. Although the academic requirements vary from college to college, the standards are still held high for all student athletes. The transition into college can be exceptionally difficult especially for the

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

In the United States, approximately sixty percent of all high school students participate in school-sponsored sports, according to a 2015 report by Child Trends. Most high schools across the U.S. not only have school-sponsored sports, but have some type of eligibility requirement for their student athletes regarding their GPA and attendance at school. These are important policies because they ensure that student athletes are attending their classes, maintain their GPA, and their sports are not interfering with the students' academics. With such policies, student athletes that are performing well in their classes are deemed eligible to participate in various sports. However, student athletes who are not performing well academically are deemed ineligible and not allowed to participate in any sport until they bring their GPA or attendance levels up. This is very important and should be enforced because it teaches student athletes responsibility, the importance of their GPA, and prepares them for their futures. With the importance of such, students who fail to pass their classes should not be allowed to participate in school-sponsored sports until they are able to pass all of their classes.

Another key point pertaining to the demands that an athlete faces are the eligibility requirements to participate in sports that non-athletes do not have. Although the eligibility requirements vary between school districts and states for high school most of them still include an emphasis on school attendance and a minimum grade point average (GPA). Most high schools utilized the same philosophy about school attendance, which is if the athlete does not attend school, then the ability to participate in practice or games is essentially forfeited (Klesse, 2004). The GPA requirement to participate in athletics does fluctuate, but none the less there is a minimum requirement of an academic standard athletes are obligated to fulfill (Klesse, 2004). From a college perspective the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) clearly identifies academics as a priority by setting the tone surrounding eligibility for high school students looking to play sports in college (NCAA, n.d.). The NCAA website provides a guideline for each year of high school followed by requirements that each student can refer to that encompasses the number of classes needed, GPA, and SAT/ACT calculations (NCAA, n.d.). The NCAA attempts to set a standard that participation in athletic programs is a privilege by enforcing levels of academic standards that have to be maintained (NCAA, n.d.).

Before diving head first into the issue, context must be added and no place is a better starting point than the bedrock for the topic title student-athlete. At first glance of the title student-athlete, one can conclude from the hyphenated title that two titles are linked, they go hand in hand, they exist simultaneously. If the hyphen was created for something in mind it was the for the student-athlete. To start the NCAA reasonably has certain requirements that the Division 1 student-athletes must satisfy. One of them is the completely reasonable, but I will go into detail about what makes it a bit problematic: students must maintain a base cumulative G.P.A. of 1.8 that progressively increases to 2.0 as their hours increase (NCAA). Another rule is, to remain eligible to play the student-athlete must be on track to graduate within 5 years by having as the NCAA says, “40 percent of the coursework required for a degree by the end of their second year. They must complete 60 percent by the end of their third year and 80 percent by the end of their fourth