The NCAA News - News and Features

July 6, 1998

Legislative assistance

1998 Column No. 27
Initial-eligibility waiver process

The following information is intended to assist Divisions I and II institutions regarding the initial-eligibility waiver process conducted by the NCAA Division I Initial-Eligibility Waiver Committee and the Division II Academic Requirements Committee. Member institutions are encouraged to review and apply these reminders and suggestions immediately. Adherence to these policies and procedures will ensure a swifter review of each case by the staff.

Procedures

Proper Submission. Member institutions are reminded to submit a properly completed 1998-99 application form to the NCAA national office and not to the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse. Please note that institutions are required to use the application form when submitting a waiver request.

Acknowledging Receipt of Case. The national office will fax a memorandum within 72 hours to confirm receipt of the waiver application, to request any additional information needed to process the case (if needed) and to identify the membership services representative handling the case.

Volume of Waivers. The national office may receive as many as 30 initial-eligibility waivers each day during this time of year. Cases that may be approved or denied by the staff generally are treated as soon as possible upon receipt of the proper information, and never more than two weeks. Cases that need to be reviewed by the committees generally will be treated within two to three weeks of receipt of the proper information.

Automatic Waiver. Criteria have been approved for "automatic" waivers in cases in which a student's overall academic record clearly demonstrates that a waiver of the standards is warranted. These waivers would be granted before the student receives a "not certified" decision from the clearinghouse. Additionally, the processing of these cases will be handled by the NCAA staff on behalf of the NCAA Division I Initial-Eligibility Waiver Committee without member institutions submitting formal waiver requests. The following criteria were adopted as standards for these automatic waivers in Division I:

a. The student is deficient in one unit or less in the core-course area of English only (i.e., presents at least three units of English);

b. The student presents a grade-point average of at least 3.300 in his or her core curriculum; and

c. The student scores in the 70th percentile on the verbal subscore of the SAT (approximately 560) or on the English subscore of the ACT (approximately 22).

Further, the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet has approved an obvious waiver for student-athletes with high academic records who have a minimum of 12 core courses and are deficient one unit or less in an area other than English. This is in addition to the existing obvious waivers for student-athletes noted above.

Policies

Appropriate Signatures. All completed waiver-application forms must include the appropriate signatures before a case can be processed. A properly submitted application will include the following signatures: either the chief executive officer or the faculty athletics representative and either the director of athletics or the senior woman administrator.

Designation of Contact Person. Member institutions are asked to note on the application form an institutional contact person for the waiver, along with the individual's title and telephone number. The staff would prefer to work only with the contact person in its review of a waiver and suggests that the institution serve as the communication link with the student-athlete's family. (The large volume of telephone calls from a student-athlete's family, combined with the staff working with several administrators from an NCAA institution, results in a duplication of effort and slows the review of a particular waiver.)

Proper Submission. A final certification report (formerly Form 48-C) issued by the clearinghouse must be included with the application before the staff can properly evaluate the case. Please note that the staff may not accept a modem-generated copy of the student's clearinghouse report to meet this requirement.

Regulations and Interpretations

Please note that a student-athlete who has an initial-eligibility waiver request in progress may continue to practice until the eligibility question is resolved by the committee (or the staff on the committee's behalf); further, such students may receive room and board until the first day of classes.

Core-Course Grade Changes. Any course title or grade change related to course work initiated in grades 9-11 must be reflected on the final transcript received by the clearinghouse. Any course title or grade change related to course work in grade 12 subsequent to the clearinghouse receiving the final transcript may be reviewed solely through the submission of an initial-eligibility waiver. In this regard, any waiver submitted in relation to grade-12 course work must include a copy of the high school's official policy related to changes of a student's official transcript.

Issuance of Yearly Grades. During its August 1996 meeting, the NCAA Council was asked to review situations in which states or school districts offer certain courses on a semester basis only and do not affix a yearly grade on the student's high-school transcript, but award a student a full unit of credit. The Council issued an interpretation to permit the clearinghouse to certify as one core unit those courses in which the high school averages the two semester grades to arrive at a yearly grade, even though the yearly grade is not noted on the high-school transcript. In order for this certification to occur, the high school must supply the clearinghouse with official documents (which include a student's academic record) clearly indicating a yearly grade was provided. The clearinghouse also needs to receive a copy of the high school's policy for averaging grades under these circumstances, as well as a copy of the student's report card.

Eighth-Grade Courses. Effective for those student-athletes first entering a collegiate institution on or after August 1, 1996, eighth-grade courses no longer may be used to satisfy core-curriculum requirements. A member institution may submit an initial-eligibility waiver to request the inclusion of eighth-grade courses as core units, provided the request is accompanied by appropriate course transcripts and confirmation on the list of approved core courses (formerly Form 48-H) that the course in question meets the definition of a core course.

Faxed Documents for Foreign Student-Athletes. Please note that the clearinghouse is prohibited from using any faxed documents for eligibility-certification purposes for foreign student-athletes.

Pass/Fail Courses. Please note that the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse may assign the lowest passing grade the high school would assign for a pass/fail course as opposed to the lowest passing grade for any course at that high school.

This material was provided by the membership services staff as an aid to member institutions. If an institution has a question or comment regarding this column, such correspondence should be directed to Kristen L. Davis or Lisa Roesler, membership services representatives, at the NCAA national office. This information is available on the College Sports Network.