NCAA Eligibility Center and other information
Initial Eligibility:
All freshmen fall under
NCAA Initial Eligibility Rules during their first year of attendance. In order to compete during your first year of college you must be certified "eligible" by the NCAA's
Eligibility Center. The Eligibility Center processes your High School Transcript and test scores to determine whether you meet the NCAA’s eligibility requirements. (Eligibility Center should be a link like it is here).
What the Eligibility Center requires: For Division I sports (all sports at UMass Lowell except Ice Hockey) the NCAA requires that you obtain a core-course GPA of at least 2.300. You can review the requirements for incoming student athletes by clicking the Freshman Eligibility Standards link above.
How you establish eligibility: How you establish eligibility: All incoming freshmen should, during their junior year or early in their senior year of high school, register with the Eligibility Center. U.S. students should use the "Domestic Student Release Form" link and foreign students should use the "Foreign Student Release form" link. This will cost $75 for domestic students, $130 for foreign students, which can be paid by credit card. It is CRITICALLY important that you read ALL material presented on the registration website. You will be provided a form that must be brought to your high school guidance office, which will function as an order form requesting your guidance office to send your preliminary transcript and test scores to the Clearinghouse. After graduation, you MUST remind your guidance office to send your FINAL transcript, completely graded and credited, with proof and date of graduation, to the Eligibility Center as well.
Special Circumstances: Home Schooled prospective student athletes, please click on the link to the Eligibility Center.
- Students with learning disabilities: Students with learning disabilities, who may have had specialized courses in high school should register their circumstances with the NCAA Eligibility Center. When the learning disability check box on the Student Release registration form is checked, the student will receive information from the NCAA as to the additional material required. Then the NCAA Eligibility Center will automatically process the specific NCAA accommodations for your certification. Further information is available at the NCAA website by clicking on NCAA News and searching for "Learning Disability." It is strongly advised that students with learning disabilities begin the process as early during their senior year as possible. The documentation required takes considerably longer for you to assemble and them to process.
- Students who attended more than one high school: Must present to the Eligibility Center an ORIGINAL transcript from each high school attended. Again, this may take a while to obtain, and it is advised that you begin the process early! Most high schools discard your previous high school's transcript after they have posted the information on your current transcript. This information is not usable by the Eligibility Center. They must receive an original transcript, sealed, directly from each high school you attended (9th grade on).
If you wish to hurry information to the Eligibility Center and arrange to mail it yourself, Please read the following carefully. All material acceptable to the Eligibility Center must arrive there in a sealed envelope on high school stationery. Please have your guidance office prepare such information, seal it in their own envelope, and address it to the Eligibility Center. This SEALED envelope may then be inserted in your OWN overnight mailer and sent to the address on the Eligibility Center website. PLEASE use a mailing service that provides you with a tracking number, but do NOT use Registered or Certified mail as this actually delays the process. Provide our Compliance office (978-934-2304) with this tracking number and the compliance office will chase your records through the process.
FINALLY, it is important that YOU, the prospective student-athlete, carry out these steps yourself. YOU should register with the Eligibility Center, create YOUR own PIN (one that YOU can remember) on their site, follow up with YOUR guidance office after graduation, and visit the Eligibility Center website often to follow your progress. The NCAA and this institution insist that, as a young adult, YOU are responsible for establishing your eligibility, not your parents, not us!
Contact information for Eligibility Center:
NCAA Eligibility Center address for transcripts:
NCAA Eligibility Center
Certifications Processing
P.O. Box 7136
Indianapolis, IN 46207-7136
NCAA Eligibility Center Overnight/Express Mail:
NCAA Eligibility Center
Certifications Processing
1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202
NCAA Eligibility Center Telephone: (877) 262-1492
