National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

August 4, 1997

Clearinghouse committee examines cost issues

The cost of maintaining the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse was a primary topic of discussion during the July 14-16 meeting of the Special Committee to Oversee Implementation of the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse.

The committee, noting that the NCAA's current clearinghouse contract with American College Testing (ACT) expires in October 1998, asked ACT to develop cost estimates specific to each service the clearinghouse provides at the current level of operation.

But committee members also plan to consider various options for cutting costs to the Association.

A recent Division I Board of Directors request for a study of the NCAA's initial-eligibility and clearinghouse system also is a factor in the committee's discussions. Among other things, the Board asked that the study include consideration of a broad range of possible solutions to areas of concern that have arisen in the initial-eligibility certification process.

In light of the Board's request and general uncertainty about the handling of initial-eligibility certification in a restructured Association, the committee discussed the possibility of extending the contract with ACT for one to two years pending resolution of those issues.

It plans to make a recommendation regarding a contract extension within the next six months.

The committee also emphasized that it does not anticipate at this time seeking any vendor other than ACT to manage the clearinghouse.

It noted that the clearinghouse has been responsive to the Association's requests for improvements in service and that those improvements have been significant. The committee agreed that it will continue to seek improvements.

Cost reduction

The committee's discussion of potential cost reduction is motivated largely by concern about the fact that the clearinghouse is considerably more expensive to operate than was anticipated at the time of its creation.

Annual clearinghouse costs originally were projected at $500,000, but the actual annual cost of operation has increased to approximately $1.5 million in 1997. That figure does not include national office costs resulting from staff involvement in administering the initial-eligibility process.

The committee noted one possible means of cutting costs is to seek a reduction in the number of high-school students who register with the clearinghouse.

This year, approximately 150,000 students registered with the Association, but only approximately 70,000 of students who register annually ultimately attend an NCAA institution and participate in intercollegiate athletics.

The committee has been studying ways to reduce the number of nonparticipants who register with the clearinghouse for some time but has not yet been able to make a recommendation on how to achieve that reduction.

It agreed during its recent meeting to ask the clearinghouse to provide information on how much of a reduction in cost can be achieved with a reduction in registrants. The committee specifically is asking for an analysis of which costs are attributable specifically to certification of an individual registrant and which costs are fixed, or incurred regardless of the number of registrants.

Another means of reducing the Association's cost is to raise the fee charged to prospective student-athletes by the clearinghouse.

The committee noted that total clearinghouse costs currently are approximately $30 per registrant. Pending receipt of information from the clearinghouse about costs attributable to certification of an individual registrant, the committee is interested in raising fees to a level that will bring the Association's annual costs much closer to the original $500,000 projection.

The committee is considering implementing such an increase for student-athletes who register during 1998-99.

A reduction in the responsibilities of the clearinghouse also is a possibility.

Other highlightsSpecial Committee of Oversee Implementation of the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse

July 14-16/Newport, Rhode Island

Discussed the Division I Academics/
Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet's and Division II Academic Requirements Committee's current review of the Association's role in core-course review. The special committee noted that Divisions I and II will be considering the role of the clearinghouse and the special committee in core-course review and their responsibility for validating core courses. The special committee indicated its support for any improvement in the current procedure that continues to ensure that core courses meet the established standards and that is achievable without changing NCAA legislation.

Listed its expectations of the clearinghouse. Among those expectations -- most of which already existed but are now being formally listed by the committee -- is that the clearinghouse will seek to certify prospective student-athletes who are listed on an Institutional Request List within four to eight working days of receipt of a final transcript. One new expectation is that the clearinghouse will monitor traffic on phone lines dedicated to the general public and extend as necessary the hours that those lines are manned by clearinghouse staff during peak times.

Noted a significant reduction in the number of busy signals encountered by callers to the clearinghouse during June 1997, compared to June 1996. Only 75 busy signals were recorded on general public lines and none on lines dedicated to institutional use, compared to 2,260 busy signals on telephone lines in use at the clearinghouse a year ago.

Recommended to the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and Division II Academic Requirements Committee that the two groups be aware of the need for interaction on initial-eligibility issues. The special committee noted that division-specific changes in initial-eligibility procedures could create unintended problems in clearinghouse operations.

Recommended to the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet that it assign a cabinet representative to the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse Committee in the new Association-wide committee structure, to ensure effective communication between the cabinet and the committee.

Advised the clearinghouse staff, upon receiving a document through means that are not acceptable under clearinghouse procedures, to notify the sender that the document has not been accepted.

Advised to clearinghouse staff to add the following title to 48H forms that are printed and distributed to high schools: "Core Courses for NCAA Initial Eligibility."