Ledo Awaits NCAA Eligibility Center Ruling
Friday, August 31, 2012
While Providence College men’s basketball fans await the verdict on Ricky Ledo’s eligibility, a lot has been written or said about the NCAA’s Clearinghouse. However, since 2007, that name has changed to the NCAA Eligibility Center. It is responsible for certifying the academic and amateur credentials of all students who want to play sports at an NCAA Division I or II institution as a freshman.
GoLocalProv.com had an in-depth conversation with Lisa Roesler – the Director of High School Review for the NCAA Eligibility Center to find out as many details about their operation and how it works.
Roesler estimates that between 180,000-200,000 prospective student-athletes submit their transcript and test scores for review each year with about 85,000-90,000 actually getting certification from the Eligibility Center each year to play sports at the Division I or Division II levels.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn order for a prospective student-athlete to get certification, he or she must be recruited by an NCAA member institution.
“Ideally, people will get the process started early,” said Roesler. “We can perform a preliminary certification based on 6 semesters of high school work heading into their senior year so the student, parents, coaches and recruiting institution can see what that student needs for certification.”
What does the Eligibility Center need to complete a certification review for a prospective student-athlete and who is responsible for getting that information to the Eligibility Center?
“We need every transcript from every high school the student attended as well as their standardized test score from either the SAT or ACT,” said Roesler. “It is a shared responsibility between the student, the parents, their high schools and the NCAA member institutions recruiting them. Normally, we receive the high school transcripts from the high schools themselves or the member institution’s admissions office and we receive the test scores directly from the testing agency.”
For those who are impatient with the process or wonder why it takes so long for a decision to be rendered, Roesler has a simple answer. “Once we have all of the information we need to make the student’s file complete, it is just a matter of a few short days,” she said. “Once we have a full file, it is considered ready to process and it takes just a day or two for us to review it and make a decision.”
Once the file is complete, a prospective Division I student-athlete must meet the following criteria in order to be deemed eligible:
1. Graduate from high school;
2. Complete a minimum of 16 core courses;
3. Present the required grade-point average (GPA) (see the sliding scale in the Guide for the
College-Bound Student-Athlete for Division I);
4. Present a qualifying test score on either the ACT or SAT (see the sliding scale in the
Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete); and
5. Complete the amateurism questionnaire and request final amateurism certification.
Division I Core-Course Breakdown (Courses Must Appear on your List of Approved Core
Courses)
• 4 years of English
• 3 years of math (Algebra 1 or higher)
• 2 years of natural or physical science (including one year of lab science if offered by your
high school)
• 1 extra year of English, math, or natural or physical science
• 2 years of social science
• 4 years of extra core courses from any category above, or foreign language,
nondoctrinal/comparative religion/philosophy
Details of the above eligibility requirements and what the NCAA’s Eligibility Center is and how it operates can be found on their website at www.eligibilitycenter.org.
Once the Eligibility Center has input all of the data from a student’s file into its system, there is an algorithm which determines if that student has met the minimum requirements for eligibility certification. Here is the current sliding scale used to determine eligibility:
Sliding Scale A
Use for Division I prior to August 1, 2016
NCAA DIVISION I SLIDING SCALE
Core GPA SAT ACT
Verbal and Math only
3.550 & above 400 37
3.525 410 38
3.500 420 39
3.475 430 40
3.450 440 41
3.425 450 41
3.400 460 42
3.375 470 42
3.350 480 43
3.325 490 44
3.300 500 44
3.275 510 45
3.250 520 46
3.225 530 46
3.200 540 47
3.175 550 47
3.150 560 48
3.125 570 49
3.100 580 49
3.075 590 50
3.050 600 50
3.025 610 51
3.000 620 52
2.975 630 52
2.950 640 53
2.925 650 53
2.900 660 54
2.875 670 55
2.850 680 56
2.825 690 56
2.800 700 57
2.775 710 58
2.750 720 59
2.725 730 59
2.700 730 60
2.675 740-750 61
2.650 760 62
2.625 770 63
2.600 780 64
2.575 790 65
2.550 800 66
2.525 810 67
2.500 820 68
2.475 830 69
2.450 840-850 70
2.425 860 70
2.400 860 71
2.375 870 72
2.350 880 73
2.325 890 74
2.300 900 75
2.275 910 76
2.250 920 77
2.225 930 78
2.200 940 79
2.175 950 80
2.150 960 80
2.125 960 81
2.100 970 82
2.075 980 83
2.050 990 84
2.025 1000 85
2.000 1010 86
The easy way to interpret the above chart is to remember that is a prospective student-athlete's core GPA is whatever it is in the left hand column of the chart, then he or she would need a corresponding SAT or ACT score listed directoly to the right of that to be considered eligible.
Depending upon the outcome of that, the Eligibility Center can render one of only two findings. Either the student-athlete is considered a “qualifier” or a “non-qualifier.” There is no such thing as a partial-qualifier for prospective Division I student-athletes.
However, if a person is deemed a “non-qualifier,” then they can go through what is called the waiver process.
Roesler and officials at the Eligibility Center cannot discuss the cases of any student-athlete so GoLocalProv.com did not ask any questions about Ricky Ledo’s impending case. However, logic would seem to indicate that Ledo was likely deemed a “non-qualifier” and is likely going through the waiver process with the Eligibility Center.
Waivers can be sought after for a variety of reasons. However, documentation must be provided as part of that process.
A waiver can be applied for if there is reason to believe that the student’s transcripts were inaccurate or in the event of a grade change. There could be the assertion that a student was misadvised or that he or she suffers from some type of education-impacting disability.
Because of the gray area involved in many of these areas, these waivers can take more time than the initial eligibility review.
There has been speculation that one of Ledo’s many high schools – Notre Dame Prep – may not have been as cooperative with him or PC in this whole process. However, that speculation cannot be definitively confirmed.
Roesler did say that the Eligibility center does try to expedite cases where a particular sport is about to begin. “For instance, if there is a student-athlete trying to walk on to a team, once we have their complete file we will try to review it right away to make a determination,” she said.
Based upon our conversations with Roesler, it would seem to dispel the myth that the NCAA’s Eligibility Center takes quite a long time to act on its cases. Instead, it would appear that the onus is on the student, the parents, their high schools and the NCAA member institution to get all of the required paperwork to the Eligibility Center so that they can make their decision.
While we still have a month and a half until college basketball programs can begin full practices and two months until the start of their respective seasons, Ledo was seen on campus this week with many of the school’s incoming freshman at orientation. Should this be viewed as a positive sign? Probably.
But, until the Eligibility Center has made its final decision on Ricky Ledo, Friar fans are left to wonder if they will ever see the talented freshman in a PC uniform.
