NCAA Guidelines

NCAA Initial Eligibility Guidelines for Potential Student-Athletes

What is the NCAA? The NCAA or National Collegiate Athletic Association serves as the athletics governing body for more than 1,000 colleges, universities, conferences, and organizations. The NCAA is committed to the student-athlete and to governing competition in a fair, safe, inclusive, and sportsmanlike manner. In keeping with this mission, they have developed a set of rules and guidelines for athletic eligibility and athletic competition for each of the three NCAA Divisions (Division I, Division II and Division III). The key difference among the three divisions is that colleges and universities competing at the Division I and II levels can offer athletically-related scholarships, while Division III colleges and universities cannot.

What is the NCAA Eligibility Center? The NCAA Eligibility Center is an organization that works with the NCAA to determine a student-athlete’s eligibility for athletic participation in his first year of college enrollment. Students who have the goal of participating in NCAA Division I or II college athletics during their first year of enrollment must register with the Eligibility Center. You may visit the NCAA Eligibility Center’s website at www.eligibilitycenter.org for more information.

As an incoming Bridgton Academy student-athlete, what does this mean for you? Athletics often play a significant role for students at the Academy. Competing at the college level is a singular achievement in itself, however, as the demand for athletic scholarships continues to grow, so have the NCAA initial eligibility requirements. The vigilance that must exist begins in a student’s ninth grade year of high school – not only for academic achievement, but also in course selection.

If you have already registered with the Eligibility Center or would like to do over the summer, please be sure to retain your username and password so that you may access your information while at Bridgton Academy. Duplicate accounts are not advisable, nor encouraged, by the NCAA.

Bridgton Academy students do not have to be registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center to participate in athletics at Bridgton Academy.

If you have any questions regarding the NCAA Initial Eligibility procedures and how to register with the NCAA please do not hesitate to contact Aaron Izaryk, our Athletic Director at (207) 647-3322 ext. 1136 or email aizaryk@bridgtonacademy.org.

Division I Academic Eligibility Requirements

Full Qualifier

• Complete 16 core courses.
• Ten of the 16 core courses must be completed before the seventh semester (senior year) of high school.
• Seven of the 10 core courses must be in English, math or science.
• Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.300.
• Graduate high school.

Click Here for more information

Division II Academic Eligibility Requirements

Full Qualifier

• Complete 16 core courses.
• Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.200.
• Graduate high school.

Click Here for more information (Division II information is on page 3&4)

Guidelines for Registering with the NCAA:

Register with the NCAA Initial Eligibility Center online at www.eligibilitycenter.org. Please list your high school first and then add Bridgton Academy as a secondary school. Bridgton Academy will be entered as a 12th grade year, even if you are a PG student. This is guidance we’ve received from the NCAA. Your enrolled entry date is 08/2021 and withdrawal date is 05/2022. Our school code is: 200-720.

Once you have successfully registered, please keep record of your Eligibility Center ID number (Ten Digit, NCAA ID Number), along with your login credentials (username and password). You will receive an email from the Eligibility Center upon registration that will contain your ID number.

• Have an official high school transcript sent directly to the Eligibility Center (and remember, you must send one to Bridgton Academy as well). This document must come from your high school and not from you or from Bridgton Academy. If you have attended multiple high schools since ninth grade, you must submit an official transcript from each school, to the NCAA Eligibility Center.

If you have already been certified for eligibility, please bring a copy of your NCAA certification letter so that we may keep it on file.

If you have an officially diagnosed learning disability, ADD, or ADHD, please be sure that Bridgton Academy has the most recent copy of this documentation. We will work with you on submitting this to the NCAA for approval.

Remember to have your high school mail an OFFICIAL final transcript to Bridgton Academy. This will allow us to approximate a core GPA. Without a final transcript, Bridgton Academy’s staff will not be able to evaluate your core GPA or provide an accurate forecast of your NCAA eligibility.

PLEASE NOTE: Attending Bridgton Academy does not guarantee NCAA qualification, and it is your responsibility to know your status with the NCAA. While we can make a predetermination of your status, it is important to note that Bridgton Academy does not represent the NCAA and is not accredited to make final rulings regarding eligibility status.

It is the responsibility of each student-athlete to be aware of NCAA Initial Eligibility guidelines. If you have any questions regarding NCAA Eligibility Center procedures please do not hesitate to contact Aaron Izaryk, our Director of Athletics, at aizaryk@bridgtonacademy.org.