National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- October 12, 1998 Division I -- Clearinghouse Web site among cost-savings efforts Work is progressing toward the development of a Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse Web site that would enable schools to more easily place student-athletes on institutional request lists (IRL), access weekly status reports and 48-H forms. The NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse Committee, which met October 1 in Indianapolis, reviewed the Web site as part of a discussion of cost-savings initiatives that could be taken regarding the initial-eligibility process. The Web site will be administered by ACT and will be accessed through NCAA Online (www.ncaa.org). Once the site is available sometime this spring, institutions will be able to access the weekly status reports and submit their IRL via the web site. The committee believes the Web site has significant cost-savings potential. It is anticipated that once the facsimile options and modem access options are no longer available, the NCAA will recover initial capital expenses in approximately one year. Additionally, institutions should realize savings in long-distance telephone charges by no longer utilizing the modem. The plan is for the modem access to be phased out once the Web site is fully functional and institutions have had the opportunity to become acclimated to the new procedures. The committee expects modem access to continue to be available temporarily even after the Web site is operational -- probably through September 1 -- to give institutions enough time to adjust. Another cost-savings measure supported by the committee is the development of "early qualifier" standards. The committee is recommending that research be conducted to determine "early qualifier" standards which are compa-rable to the initial-eligibility standards applicable for students after graduating from high school. This research will identify the standards that indicate a student is predictably academically prepared after six semesters of course work, core grade-point average and test scores are achieved. If successful, such a system could allow the clearinghouse to process more preliminary certifications and if the student meets the "early qualifier" standard, the student would be certified. This would eliminate additional review, which would result in significant cost savings. The committee also discussed other cost-savings alternatives, including an option in which the clearinghouse would process the 48-H forms but leave the final certification of prospects to the individual institutions. The committee did not support this option because it would be subject to the same types of inconsistencies that created the need for the clearinghouse in the first place. Other options not supported by the committee included having the clearinghouse certify student-athletes only in certain sports. Another option suggested was processing only student-athletes who ap-pear on an institutional request list. This option was not supported because only 50 percent of students that ultimately participate are on an IRL by June 1, which would cause significant timing problems in certifications. In other action, the committee learned that Calvin Symons will remain as director of the clearinghouse.
Other highlights
Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse Committee
their senior year of high school.
|