4 Things You Need to Know About NAIA Eligibility
What is the NAIA Eligibility Center?
Before a student-athlete will be able to participate in collegiate sports at the NAIA level they will first need to visit the NAIA clearinghouse website and submit their personal information, GPA, test scores, high school transcripts and sports teams’ information.
1. How it Works
The NAIA Eligibility Center could be found at playnaia.org. Student- athletes must click on the “register here” button to get started. The NAIA needs to know your e-mail, your estimated high school graduation date or your actual graduation date, the month and year when you plan to begin enrollment at an NAIA college, and if you are a first time college student or a transfer student. The eligibility center will have you create a password for your student profile that you will use to log in with and check your status.
Once you receive a conformation e-mail from the NAIA Eligibility Center, you will be able to begin the rest of the eligibility process and complete your student profile.
2. How Can I Tell If I Am Eligible For the NAIA?
The NAIA eligibility process is pretty clear you must be a high school graduate and meet two of the following three items:
- Minimum score of 18 on ACT or 860 on SAT
- Minimum overall high school GPA of 2.0 on a scale of 4.0
- Graduate at the top half of your graduating high school class
3. What Information Will the NAIA Clearinghouse Need From Me?
The NAIA clearinghouse will require potential student- athletes to complete four of the five eligibility sections.
The first section requires athletes to complete their basic information, including address and contact information. Next the athlete will be asked about academics. The academic section includes information about your high school and when your expected graduation date will be. Next will be the sports section, where athletes are required to submit information of the teams or leagues they have played with during and after high school. The importance of the sports section is to ensure that potential student- athletes are amateurs and have never competed on a professional level.
Once all the information is inputted, the athlete will be shown a summary section and asked to confirm all their information. The final or fifth section called “NAIA connections” is a way to assist athletes in getting their name and experience out to college coaches. This section is optional, but recommended.
If you do not have all the information at one time, don’t worry. You will be able to return to it after you have all your login information.
4. The Details
The Eligibility Center will also need your ACT or SAT test scores from the given testing site; they will not accept personal e-mails or letters from any source outside of the testing facilities. If you are registering with the NAIA before taking the SAT or ACT, you can enter the NAIA code 9876 directly on your test the day you take it for scores to be sent directly to the Eligibility Center.
Also know that unlike the NCAA, the NAIA only counts test scores for the same testing day; there is no choosing which scores you want to submit from different sections.
The students’ official high school or college transcripts must also be sent directly to the NAIA Eligibility Center.
Remember just like the NCAA Eligibility Center, the NAIA cannot move forward in granting student- athletes eligibility until they have completed all the information and submitted payment of $65 for US students and $95 for international students.
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