Membership newsletter // march 2018

Important Amateurism Certification Processing Changes—Effective Immediately

To align with the NCAA Eligibility Center’s academic certification process, the Eligibility Center has implemented the following changes to the amateurism certification process:

As of March 1, the Eligibility Center began transitioning support for amateurism certification inquiries to the NCAA Customer Service Center. Member institutions can call 877-544-2950 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) for assistance. After March 31, the amateurism certification staff will no longer process inquiries through ec-amateurism@ncaa.org.
  • The Customer Service Center staff are equipped to provide support on questions related to an amateurism certification. Amateurism certifications are no longer assigned to a dedicated case manager. 
  • Accounts are reviewed in the order they become "ready to process." The date on which an account is ready to process will be visible in the Amateurism Details section of the Membership Portal. The amateurism certification staff typically reviews accounts within 10 business days of becoming ready to process.
  • Decisions will be rendered on the information available to the certification staff after the review process. Students who do not fully complete the Sports Participation section of their Eligibility Center registration may be tasked to update and resubmit the request for amateurism certification.
  • If the staff issues a decision other than “Final Certified,” a review summary describing the basis for the staff’s decision will be posted in the Membership Portal, along with the information relied upon in reaching the decision. 
  • A university or college may request reevaluation of any factual conclusions in the review summary by submitting a Decision Inquiry Form, which can be obtained by calling customer service at 877-544-2950. Please see the Amateurism Decision Inquiry Membership Resource for more information regarding the decision inquiry process. 
  • To request relief of a delayed enrollment condition, a university or college may submit a legislative relief waiver request through RSRO. 
  • To request an interpretation of the amateurism legislation applicable to a student’s certification, a university or college may submit an interpretation request to academic and membership affairs through RSRO. The amateurism certification will not submit interpretation requests on the institution’s behalf after March 31, 2018.
  • To request reinstatement of a student who was not certified due to an amateurism violation, a university or college may submit a student-athlete reinstatement request through RSRO. The amateurism certification will not submit reinstatement requests on the institution’s behalf after March 31, 2018.
  • If a university or college is aware of additional information or discrepancies with a student’s Eligibility Center account, the institution must submit an Amateurism Inconsistency Form to fulfill its obligation under Bylaw  12.1.1.1.2.2. The Amateurism Inconsistency Form can be found in the Resources section of the Membership Portal. 

Division II only—2018 Rule Changes Implementation Coming Soon

In preparation for the Division II rule changes (effective for students enrolling in Fall 2018), preliminary certifications will begin reflecting any applicable deficiencies and new “eligibility codes” in student details reports as of March 21, 2018. Accounts for 2018 enrollees with previously released preliminary decisions will also be updated. More information will be made available when the changes are released; continue to monitor upcoming issues of this newsletter for updates. 
 

Late Season 1718-cycle Amateurism Cases

The Amateurism Certification team is in the process of transitioning their case review to accounts for students on 1819 IRLs. As a result, processing of any late season 1718 IRL amateurism cases could be slightly impacted. If you need assistance with the completion of amateurism certification for a student on a 1718 IRL, please contact customer service. As a reminder, cases with a status of “preliminary certified” will generally be certified within 24 hours of requesting final amateurism.

Documents Needed: Feed the hungry Preliminary Machine!

At this time of year, our staff is anxious and ready to process as many preliminary evaluations as possible. Processing preliminary evaluations for both domestic and international students will help streamline the final processing of cases during the busy summer months following high school graduation. Early evaluation also allows us to identify any open issues while high schools are still in session. Please encourage coaches to reach out to students who have yet to submit transcripts from years nine and up at all schools attended and ask them to request their records and test scores be sent now!  

Portal Reminder: Updating Sports

As a reminder, updating your sports participation list can be done on the Eligibility Center's Membership Portal. On the home page of the portal, hover over the IRL tab and select the Update Sports option from the dropdown list. Your institution’s currently activated sports will appear on the left side of the screen, with deactivated sports on the right. To activate a sport, click the adjacent Add Sport link. This will move that sport to the activated list. If you wish to deactivate a sport, click the Deactivate Link. If needed, there is a tutorial in the How To’s section on the Membership Portal's Resources page. 
The Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete is our most comprehensive student resource.
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Our Initial-Eligibility Brochure provides a general overview of the NCAA Eligibility Center requirements. 
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