FAQ’s

Only two percent of US high-school athletes go on to play college sports. But don’t let the numbers mislead you, if you have the athletic and academic ability there are many opportunities and future pathways into the US college system. It’s all about identifying the right pathway for your unique circumstances.

Getting good grades and having good test scores is just as important as having good stats in your sport. A coach can only recruit you if you are academically eligible to compete at that specific school. Not only do you have to qualify for the academic requirements of the NCAA or NAIA but you will want to make sure you know what the academic requirements are for the school you are interested in attending. Don’t believe the myth that a coach can get you into the school if he wants you bad enough. A coach still has to answer to the University and NCAA or NAIA on the GPA and graduation rates of their athletes. Most coaches won’t gamble on a student-athlete who hasn’t demonstrated that they can handle the academic responsibilities of the school. Remember it’s called Student-Athlete for a reason as fundamentally you are heading over to the US to study for a degree.

This is a common question we get asked. Essentially, to be eligible to compete in NCAA sports during your first year at a Division I school, you must graduate high school and meet the following requirements since year 9: Complete 16 core courses from Years 9 – 12 that include: Four years of English; Three years of Maths (Algebra 1 or higher); Two years of natural/physical science; One additional year of English, maths or natural/physical science; Two years of social science; Four additional years of English, maths, natural/physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion or philosophy. There are also additional core courses from a range of Australian State curriculum that are NCAA approved.

If you currently play a college sport at a good standard and are progressing relatively well academically then you can receive a complimentary eligibility review from our expert team who will determine your suitability and what your options are in terms of the type of colleges you could potentially attend.

NCAA Division I & II schools, NAIA schools, and some Junior Colleges are all eligible to give athletic scholarships. While NCAA Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships they are able to give other types of merit-based scholarships and financial aid.

An athletic scholarship is essentially a contract that must be signed and agreed upon every year by both the coach and the athlete. This means your scholarship is year-to-year. Every year you will have to earn a renewal of your scholarship by proving yourself as an asset to the team on the field and in the classroom.

Many athletic programs will not offer you a full-ride scholarship but rather a partial athletic scholarship, which means you will have to come up with the additional funding to cover the shortfall in the overall cost of attendance (COA).

The National Collegiate Athletic Association oversees the rules and regulations of many college athletic departments. The NCAA is broken up into three Divisions, depending on sport: Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3. Each division has specific rules that the athletic departments, coaches and athletes need to abide by in order to stay eligible.

The main difference between the different NCAA divisions is their ability to give athletic scholarships to student-athletes. Divisions 1 and 2 can give athletic scholarships. Division 3 schools can not give athletic scholarships, but the school can give academic scholarships and other types of financial aid.

The NAIA stands for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The NAIA oversees the college sports programs for a further 300+ colleges within 2 main divisions. 

Normally an NAIA school is smaller than an NCAA school in terms of campus and student sizes, but in many cases they can offer more scholarships per sport and are a great option as they offer a lot of funding opportunities. From an athletic perspective, an average NAIA Division 1 school competes at the level of an average NCAA Division 2 program.

The NJCAA is the National Junior College Athletic Association. Junior college (or JUCO) is an excellent way to get both a quality education and play college sports at an affordable price. NJCAA member schools in Division 1 and 2 can offer athletic scholarships. NJCAA Division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships. Some student-athletes find it beneficial to study and play at a Junior College before transferring to a 4-year university–it gives them two more years to mature academically and athletically. This alternative pathway is known as the 2+2 pathway.

Many athletic programs will not offer you a full-ride scholarship but rather a partial athletic scholarship, which means you will have to come up with the additional funding to cover the shortfall in the overall cost of attendance (COA).

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is an entrance exam used by most US colleges & universities to make admissions decisions. The SAT is a multiple-choice test created & administered by the College Board that tests a students’ aptitude in maths & evidence-based reading & writing with an optional essay component. The general purpose of the SAT is to measure a high school student’s readiness for college & provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants.

When you register for the SAT, use the NCAA Eligibility Center code 9999 so your scores are sent directly to the NCAA Eligibility Center from the testing agency. Test scores on transcripts cannot be used in your academic certification. Paper test score results and results from TOEFL exams will not be accepted. It is best for students to list the NCAA Eligibility Center as a score recipient at the time of exam registration to avoid additional fees.

Academic records include documents such as transcripts, yearly grade reports, mark sheets or official leaving exam results. As part of the academic certification process, all prospective student-athletes must submit their academic records for years nine and up, in your native language (and translated to English, if English is not the native language).

Graduation credentials may be called a final diploma, a high-school certificate or some other proof of graduation from Year 12. It must include the official name or type of diploma and the date issued. As part of the academic certification process, your school must submit proof of graduation showing you completed high-school.

In determining your academic eligibility the NCAA/NAIA Eligibility Centre’s will review standardised SAT scores alongside your high school GPA and the type classes you took in high school. Similarly, college admissions officers will also review this information along with any letters of recommendation from teachers or mentors, extracurricular activities, admissions interviews, and personal essays. How important SAT scores are in the college application process varies from school to school with different schools requiring different admission thresholds. Overall, the higher your GPA and SAT scores the more options for attending and funding college will be available to you.

You should begin thinking about it as a potential future pathway option around year 11 with a view to starting the process at the commencement of your senior year. This allows sufficient time from an Australian perspective to cover off all the admin steps while providing maximum time to be promoted to college coaches who are looking to recruit athletes for the following year.

You should always involve your coaches in your recruiting process. College coaches value the recommendation of other coaches. But don’t rely on others to do your recruiting for you. If your coaches want to get involved, you should ask them for letters of recommendation or–if they are willing–to be listed as references on your prospect profile and provide a third-party independent coach assessment.

According to eligibility rules you are allowed to contact college coaches at any time. However, it is against the rules for a coach to contact you at certain times but if you initiate the conversation or contact they can reply. Make sure that when you make contact you have something noteworthy to tell them or have well thought-out questions to ask as they are very busy people.

The NCAA eligibility Center is the organisation that determines if you are academically eligible to play college athletics. In high school there are a certain number of core courses required and minimum GPA and SAT scores you need to earn. You only need to register with the eligibility center if you plan on competing at the NCAA Division 1 or 2 level.

The NAIA eligibility Center is the organisation that carries out the same function as the NCAA Eligibility Center but just for their member schools.

Timing (like most things in life!) is everything. Coaches recruit based on what they need in any given year to fill their roster sports and strengthen their team. If you play a position that the team is currently strong in then chances are they will not need to recruit you. When looking at programs you will want to research their current roster to see what their depth chart is relative to your talents.

Absolutely. Scholarship athletes are student-athletes who are invited to be on a team. There are, however, more spots on the team than allowed scholarships. Students who try out and make a collegiate athletic team are called ‘walk-ons’. If you are looking to walk on to a team make sure you contact the coach to find out if there are available spots, when try-outs are, and what they are looking for in their athletes.

An NLI or National Letter of Intent is the written commitment that you give a to a college or university stating that you will attend that school the following year and accept their offer for athletic financial aid (i.e. athletic scholarship). You only have to sign an NLI if you are receiving some sort of athletic scholarship from the school. There are only certain dates when you can sign your NLI and this is different for each sport. Once you have signed an NLI you are committed to that school for an entire year and can no longer be recruited by any other schools.

As a not-for-profit we are driven by a clear mandate to help young people realise their potential in sport, education and life. While many talented athletes might be eligible to secure scholarship funding, the costs associated with recruitment are often prohibitive for a lot of families. Through our partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation, we are able to provide equal opportunities for all talented athletes to pursue a scholarship through significant subsidies on the traditional costs associated with recruitment agencies. We call this the ‘opportunity equity subsidy’.

At CARYS, we believe education is the world’s most powerful investment. Our mission is to help people fund it. As such, we are committed to providing innovative solutions that support access to education. Through our partners Edstart (www.edstart.com.au/carys) we are able to provide families with interest-free payment plans that help spread the cost of the program into more manageable payments across the year. However, our help doesn’t stop once our athletes start college in America. We are also uniquely placed to help student-athletes and families set-up similar payment plans to help cover any out-of-pocket college expenses  including excess tuition fees, accommodation, textbooks, insurance and extra-curricular activities. Now that is a REAL Game-Changer!

The fees associated with the Game-Changer program are for a range of professional education, promotional, networking and support services associated with the pursuit of scholarship opportunities in America; but are not paid for the opportunities themselves. Guaranteeing a student that they will secure a scholarship or receiving payment based on placing a student with a college or university would represent a serious breach of the NCAA and NAIA recruiting regulations and could ultimately jeopardise the student-athletes eligibility. Only the US college or university institution themselves can guarantee scholarship funding. To this end, student-athletes & parents should be extremely cautious if told otherwise by any external agencies. In accordance with recruting rules and regulations our Game-Changer program is fully compliant with NCAA bylaw 12.3.3.1 that states, “A prospective student-athlete may allow a scouting service or agent to distribute personal information to member institutions without jeopardizing his or her eligibility, provided the fee paid to such an agent is not based on placing the prospective student-athlete in a collegiate institution as a recipient of institutional financial aid.”