Yasmeen Freightman
Academic standards are changing and molding for student-athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and at the University of Georgia. In order to be eligible to enter a Division 1 university and stay eligible under a football scholarship, college-bound student-athletes don't really have to bring their 'A' games.
In 2011, the NCAA made some new and very dramatic changes to D1 initial-eligibility academic standards, which are in place for high school students in the class of 2016.
According to the NCAA, the current core GPA for high school students to become initially eligible must be a 2.3. It was a 2.0 with the previous requirements.
Additionally, depending on a student's high school GPA, they might be required to score higher on the SAT. In the previous requirements, students with a core GPA of 2.5 needed to score at least an 820 on the SAT. With the new standards, students with a core GPA of 2.5 need to score at least 1000.
College-bound student-athletes must also complete 16 core courses. 10 of the 16 courses must be completed before the seventh semester (senior year) of high school. Seven of those 10 courses must be in English, Math, or Science.
The NCAA has also implemented a status called "Academic Redshirt" which allows incoming university student-athletes to receive a scholarship and to have a spot on the team, but not be allowed to compete in their first year of enrollment. However, to be an "Academic Redshirt," a student's core GPA and SAT/ACT scores are standardized lower than "Full Qualifiers." "Academic Redshirts" can have a 2.0 core GPA in high school to be allowed to play in a D1 school.
However, just because a college-bound student seeking to participate in university athletics meets the NCAA academic requirements, it doesn't mean they will be admitted to the college they apply to. Every college has their own academic standards of admission and UGA is no exception to this rule.
According to the university's admission web page, "'demonstrated academic achievement' is the primary factor in first-year admission decisions at the University of Georgia...The academic review of first-year applications centers on three criteria: the student’s grade point average (GPA) in core academic courses, the rigor of a student’s course selection, and his or her best combination of scores on the SAT or ACT."
According to admissions data provided by Cappex.com, the majority of students in 2012 who were admitted to UGA had a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher and SAT scores of 1700 or higher.
In order for a student-athlete to stay academically afloat, he/she must maintain a GPA of a 2.0 while at the university. According to UGA academic policies, any student who makes LESS than a 2.0 cumulative GPA will be placed on scholastic probation.
Ted White, the associate athletic director for academic support, says that every college-bound student-athlete must not only meet NCAA minimum requirements to play sports, but must meet UGA academic standards in order to be admitted to the university. However, he also says that most major D1 programs have accepted the NCAA minimum standards as their minimum standards.
"A lot of schools use the NCAA standards as their standards because there is a quote-on-quote 'even playing field' with their competitors for recruiting," White says.
White explains that there are procedures in place, so that if a student-athlete applies to UGA through its general admission department and is not admitted after he or she sends in the application, there are additional rounds in place where committees can evaluate the student.
"Nobody wants to establish a higher admissions rate because you might not be able to recruit the student-athlete you want to recruit because you're holding yourself to a higher standard than all your competitors," White states.
So if an aspiring college-bound student-athlete only needs core GPA of a 2.3 and an SAT score of at least 1000 to be admitted into a Division 1 school, is that too low a standard? Is academics the cost for a student-athlete getting to play the sport of his/her dreams?
http://www.ncaa.org/initial-eligibility
http://www.clearinghousecalculator.org/downloads/NCAA_Class_of_2016_Standards_CoreCourseGPA.pdf
http://student-svcs.sports.uga.edu/current-student-athletes/ncaa-uga-academic-policies/
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/university-of-georgia-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm
https://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/admission-information-for-first-year-students.html
Academic standards are changing and molding for student-athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and at the University of Georgia. In order to be eligible to enter a Division 1 university and stay eligible under a football scholarship, college-bound student-athletes don't really have to bring their 'A' games.
In 2011, the NCAA made some new and very dramatic changes to D1 initial-eligibility academic standards, which are in place for high school students in the class of 2016.
According to the NCAA, the current core GPA for high school students to become initially eligible must be a 2.3. It was a 2.0 with the previous requirements.
Additionally, depending on a student's high school GPA, they might be required to score higher on the SAT. In the previous requirements, students with a core GPA of 2.5 needed to score at least an 820 on the SAT. With the new standards, students with a core GPA of 2.5 need to score at least 1000.
College-bound student-athletes must also complete 16 core courses. 10 of the 16 courses must be completed before the seventh semester (senior year) of high school. Seven of those 10 courses must be in English, Math, or Science.
The NCAA has also implemented a status called "Academic Redshirt" which allows incoming university student-athletes to receive a scholarship and to have a spot on the team, but not be allowed to compete in their first year of enrollment. However, to be an "Academic Redshirt," a student's core GPA and SAT/ACT scores are standardized lower than "Full Qualifiers." "Academic Redshirts" can have a 2.0 core GPA in high school to be allowed to play in a D1 school.
However, just because a college-bound student seeking to participate in university athletics meets the NCAA academic requirements, it doesn't mean they will be admitted to the college they apply to. Every college has their own academic standards of admission and UGA is no exception to this rule.
According to the university's admission web page, "'demonstrated academic achievement' is the primary factor in first-year admission decisions at the University of Georgia...The academic review of first-year applications centers on three criteria: the student’s grade point average (GPA) in core academic courses, the rigor of a student’s course selection, and his or her best combination of scores on the SAT or ACT."
According to admissions data provided by Cappex.com, the majority of students in 2012 who were admitted to UGA had a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher and SAT scores of 1700 or higher.
In order for a student-athlete to stay academically afloat, he/she must maintain a GPA of a 2.0 while at the university. According to UGA academic policies, any student who makes LESS than a 2.0 cumulative GPA will be placed on scholastic probation.
Ted White, the associate athletic director for academic support, says that every college-bound student-athlete must not only meet NCAA minimum requirements to play sports, but must meet UGA academic standards in order to be admitted to the university. However, he also says that most major D1 programs have accepted the NCAA minimum standards as their minimum standards.
"A lot of schools use the NCAA standards as their standards because there is a quote-on-quote 'even playing field' with their competitors for recruiting," White says.
White explains that there are procedures in place, so that if a student-athlete applies to UGA through its general admission department and is not admitted after he or she sends in the application, there are additional rounds in place where committees can evaluate the student.
"Nobody wants to establish a higher admissions rate because you might not be able to recruit the student-athlete you want to recruit because you're holding yourself to a higher standard than all your competitors," White states.
So if an aspiring college-bound student-athlete only needs core GPA of a 2.3 and an SAT score of at least 1000 to be admitted into a Division 1 school, is that too low a standard? Is academics the cost for a student-athlete getting to play the sport of his/her dreams?
http://www.ncaa.org/initial-eligibility
http://www.clearinghousecalculator.org/downloads/NCAA_Class_of_2016_Standards_CoreCourseGPA.pdf
http://student-svcs.sports.uga.edu/current-student-athletes/ncaa-uga-academic-policies/
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/university-of-georgia-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm
https://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/admission-information-for-first-year-students.html