2 NCAA Groups to Seek Eligibility Amendment

Two committees of the NCAA will jointly sponsor an amendment to a bylaw that, effective next Aug. 1, will determine the initial eligibility of student-athletes for intercollegiate athletics in Division I schools.

The NCAA Presidents Commission and the NCAA Council will sponsor the amendment at the organization’s January convention. The amendment would establish an indexing formula, using high school grade-point average and national test scores, for a three-year phase-in period before the current requirements of the bylaw become effective.

The rule currently requires that a student-athlete have a 2.0 grade-point average in a core curriculum of high school courses and must score at least a 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or a 15 on the American College Testing examination.

The NCAA said that the eligibility index amendment would apply to the entering classes of 1986 and 1987, and the current bylaw requirements would be applicable in the third year, to the 1988 entering class.

Under the eligibility amendment, in the first year (1986-87), the student-athlete could achieve eligibility by using an index wherein a 740 on the SAT or a 17 score on the ACT could be combined with a 1.8 grade-point average in the core curriculum. Also, a 2.0 grade-point average in the core could be combined with a minimum 660 SAT or 13 ACT score.

In the second year (1987-88), the NCAA said the index would be reduced to the point where a 720 SAT or 16 ACT score could offset a 1.9 grade-point average, and a 2.1 grade-point average could offset a 680 SAT or 14 ACT score.

In 1988-89, the original language of the rule would become the minimum applicable requirement, with a 2.0 or better grade-point average in the core, at least a 700 on the SAT or 15 on the ACT.