National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

back to 2010 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index

Jul 15, 2010 8:47:13 AM

The Division I Committee on Academic Performance and the Academic Cabinet are recommending that the Football Academic Working Group include in its proposal for increased fall-term credit hours an equivalent for student-athletes whose institutions are on the quarter system.

The recommendation to be considered by the Board of Directors is that football student-athletes, in addition to satisfying all other eligibility requirements, must earn at least nine semester-credit hours in the fall term or be suspended for the first four games the following fall. If the student-athlete earns 27 semester-credit hours before the start of the next fall term, he can earn back two of those games.

The Committee on Academic Performance and the cabinet recommended that football players at quarter schools earn eight credit hours in the fall term and, for those who fail to satisfy that requirement, earn 40 quarter hours before the start of the subsequent term to earn back two games.

Research indicates that eight quarter hours is generally equivalent to nine semester hours. The 40 quarter hours, like the 27 semester hours, puts student-athletes on track to graduate in four and a half years, one of the working group's primary goals.

The Football Academic Working Group recommendations will go to the Board of Directors for its August 12 meeting. The Board is expected to introduce the proposals into the 2010-11 legislative cycle, with first votes cast on the concepts in January 2011.