Bylaw: Article V, Section C, Item 2b
Effective May 1, 2022 as applied to eligibility decisions for NAIA competition in August 2022 or beyond:
An entering freshman student can become eligible by achieving an overall high school grade point average of 2.300 or higher on a 4.000 scale.
“An entering freshman student must meet two of the three entry-level requirements below. Students not meeting at least two of the three standards shall be denied athletics participation at a member institution for the first full year of attendance (two semesters, three quarters, or the equivalent) that such a student is identified with any institution(s). The three entry-level requirements are as follows:
- An overall high school grade point average of 2.000 or higher on a 4.000 scale;”
Interpretation
Utilize the stair-stepper model only if the student’s high school transcript shows more than one GPA.
- For high schools that report “Weighted” and “Unweighted” GPAs:
a. If the school ranks its students, use whichever GPA the school uses to determine the ranking.
i. If the school does rank but provides multiple ranks, the next question is if they have a valedictorian.
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- If so, then find out from the school which rank they use to name the valedictorian (e.g. School says it uses weighted rank to determine valedictorian, so use the weighted GPA that appears on the transcript).
a. If the school doesn’t name a valedictorian, then just defer to the weighted GPA found on the transcript.
b. If the school does not rank, then choose the weighted GPA over the unweighted.
- For high schools that report “Overall” and “Academic” GPAs:
a. Use the Overall GPA.
Related Bylaws
Article V, Section C, Item 1
Related Interpretations
International Student – Multiple Graduation Dates
Class Rank 1-1
NEC Interp – Creation date unknown. Current as of: September 2017
