The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is a non-profit organization that regulates and organizes the athletic programs of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Additionally, it supports student-athletes that compete in college sports.
All students who desire to play a sport at the Division I or Division II level in college must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center at eligibilitycenter.org.
The NCAA Eligibility Center reviews the academics and amateurism of all prospective student- athletes.
There are different eligibility requirements for Division I, Division II and Division III athletics. Division I athletics has the strictest requirements of the three divisions and Division III does not have any requirements of athletes. See descriptions below of the different divisions per the NCAA website.
Division I
Division I schools generally have more students, larger athletic budgets and more athletic department support than schools in Division II or III.
Division II
Schools in Division II emphasize a life balance in which academically and athletically gifted students can compete at a high level while maintaining a traditional collegiate experience.
Division III
Academics are the primary focus for Division III student-athletes who experience shorter sports seasons, reducing their time away from academic studies and other campus activities. Consult the individual college or university for admission and eligibility requirements. See the official NCAA Division III website for additional information. No athletic aid is granted to students who play for a Division III school, but the institutions can offer merit and need-based aid.
Recruitment
Some student-athletes are recruited by colleges and universities to play a sport for their school. If a student is recruited by a school for athletics, the college application process differs from students applying to schools that aren’t planning on participating in sports or are only planning to play a sport at the Division III level.
Student-athletes in particular sports can be recruited as early as sophomore year. It is not recommended for students to commit to playing for a specific college or university this early in high school, but for students to keep an open dialogue with schools that may be looking at them.

CourseCoreGPA
Eastside Catholic School is proud to make CoreCoureGPA available to EC families free of charge. We believe CoreCourseGPA will be a useful academic tool for you and your student-athlete.
CoreCourseGPA.com incorporates the NCAA-recognized core courses for Eastside Catholic School into the online course entry forms, calculates both Division I and Division II core course GPA, automatically factors weighted grades into calculations and tracks course requirements for both Division I and Division II. Students' core course information is saved for the duration of their high school career.
CoreCourseGPA.com also provides access to free recruiting webinars through FreeRecruitingWebinar.org, a nonprofit program. Webinar previews as well as full-length recruiting webinars may be accessed on the FreeRecruitingWebinar.org website. Viewing a full-length webinar is highly recommended to learn about the facts and rules of recruiting. The recruiting process starts in the freshman year. Make sure you are prepared.
To activate individual student accounts, simply visit CoreCourseGPA.com and click on the blue FREE New Member Account button in the upper left-hand side of the homepage. Then, input the EC school codes for each new faculty/student member in the New Member account creation box. Contact Athletic Director Stacey Stoutt, for the EC code and if you have questions about this tool.