All college-bound student-athletes interested in playing NCAA sports at a Division I or II school need to register for an Academic and Amateurism Certification account with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Please see the resources below for home school students and information regarding the Eligibility Center registration process.

Download the Home School Toolkit.

How to Fill Out Home School Education History.

You must complete all the following steps for the Eligibility Center to certify you as eligible to play NCAA sports:

• Register with the Eligibility Center at eligibilitycenter.org.
• Pay your registration fee. If a student meets any of the fee waiver criteria and has not attended a U.S. high school (e.g., international students, home school students), a task will be assigned to their Eligibility Center account with additional instructions for completing the fee waiver requirement.
• Submit an official transcript for each high school or academic program you attended.
• Submit proof of high school graduation with a specific graduation date.
• Submit a signed statement of who managed the home school program (e.g., who taught and evaluated the coursework, awarded grades and issued credit); and a signed statement that home schooling was conducted in accordance with state laws.
• Submit core-course worksheets for English, math, science, social science, world language or nondoctrinal religion/philosophy classes.

Please include the Home School Cover Sheet with your documentation.

Mailing Address:

NCAA Eligibility Center
Home School Evaluation
1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202

Email: 

ec-processing@ncaa.org

*Email is the preferred method of document submission. Documents submitted via email will be processed quicker than those sent via regular U.S. mail.

Note: Be sure to include the college-bound student-athlete’s NCAA ID with all submitted student records, regardless of the method of submission.

Only home school administrators or home school umbrella programs can submit home school student transcripts. All other home school documentation must be provided by the home school administrator (e.g., parent/guardian).

What is “Home Schooling”?

Learning at home does not necessarily equate to being home schooled. Because of the tremendous growth of online and virtual education, a student may be able to learn at home through an online school with online teachers, which would not be considered parent/guardian directed home school.

To help determine whether a college-bound student-athlete would be considered home schooled, please review the following questions. This will help you determine whether the student’s schooling would be considered “home school” or “nontraditional.” Remember: The NCAA definition for nontraditional courses includes courses taken online through a program that provides teachers, assessments and grading.

• Who created or developed the curriculum for the courses?
  • If an outside school or program created the curriculum, it is probably a nontraditional course.
  • If a home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program created the curriculum, it is probably home schooling.
• Who provides the instruction in the courses?
  • If instruction is provided by an outside school or program, it is probably a nontraditional course.
  • If instruction is provided by a home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program, it is probably home schooling.
• Who designed or created the assignments and assessments?
  • If assignments and assessments are created by an outside school or program, it is probably a nontraditional course.
  • If assignments and assessments are created by a home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program, it is probably home schooling.
• Who evaluates or grades the assignments and assessments?
  • If assignments and assessments are graded by an outside school or program, it is probably a nontraditional course.
  • If assignments and assessments are graded by a home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program, it is probably home schooling.
• Who determines what score or grade is achieved in the courses?
  • If an outside school or program determines the grade the student earns, it is probably a nontraditional course.
  • If a home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program, decides what grade the student earns, it is probably home schooling.
• Who is responsible for producing a student transcript or grade report?
  • If a transcript or grade report is produced by an outside school or program, it is probably a nontraditional course.
  • If a transcript or grade report is produced by a home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program, it is probably home schooling.

Note: If your answer to one or more of the questions above is “the home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program” you would likely be considered a home-schooled student-athlete.

Home School Course Evaluation

The only courses that require a home schooling evaluation are those in which the home school parent/guardian, tutor or umbrella program is the one is responsible for all the following:

• Planning and delivering actual instructional activities (lectures, discussions, tutorials, feedback, assistance, etc.).
• Determining the student’s comprehension of the material by grading and evaluating student performance and achievement on assignments and assessments and providing appropriate re-teaching (if necessary) and feedback.
• Determining the overall grade the student achieved in the course.
• Either placing the grade on a transcript/grade report or reporting the grade to a transcription agency or entity.

Home School Core Courses

A core course is considered four-year college preparatory in the subject areas of English, math (Algebra 1 or higher), science, social science, world language, comparative religion or philosophy.

• Audited, CLEP or credit-by-exam classes are not NCAA-approved core courses and cannot be used as part of an academic certification.

All core courses must show units of credit for each course. Course credits will be acceptable in the following increments .25, .50, .75, 1.0 or .34 or .67. Note: No course shall receive more than 1.0 unit of credit.

If you take a college class while you are a home school student, you must receive both a grade and credit in the class for it to be used as a core course. To use a college class to meet your core-course requirements, the home school transcript must designate the course as a dual enrollment course, include the school name and location (city and state) at which the course was completed and award grade and credit for the completed course. The transcript from the two-year or four-year college/university where the course(s) was completed must be sent to the Eligibility Center. This can be sent in by the home school administrator, the two-year or four-year college/university where the course(s) was completed, an umbrella program if used or by the NCAA institution recruiting the student-athlete.

High school classes taken during the eighth grade may be used as NCAA core courses as long as they meet core-course requirements and are shown on the home school transcript with a grade and credit.

Division I schools require college-bound student-athletes to complete their core courses in eight semesters after starting ninth grade. If a student does not graduate in eight semesters because he or she was reassigned to a grade in high school after completing that grade at home, courses completed after eight semesters cannot be used to certify that student’s eligibility to play at a Division I school.

Home School Graduation

Any of the following can be accepted as proof of graduation:

• Diploma showing month, day and year of graduation.
• Home school transcript showing month, day and year of graduation.
• State-recognized equivalency exam test results and diploma.

The Eligibility Center cannot accept proof of graduation from a diploma issued by a home school in New York or Hawaii because they do not recognize home school diplomas. If a student is home schooled in one of these states, and does not graduate from a high school, the local school district or state board of education must review the student’s home school record and provide a written letter indicating the student has met the state’s graduation requirements or the equivalent. The letter must clearly state the month, day and year the student met graduation requirements.

In order to satisfy proof of graduation requirements and meet the NCAA’s graduation requirements, the student may also provide the test results and diploma/certificate earned from passing the state-recognized equivalency exam.

A state high school equivalency exam (e.g., General Education Development) may be accepted as proof of graduation for home school students under certain conditions, but it will not satisfy requirements for core courses or GPA. The equivalency exam may be accepted as proof of graduation if taken after the graduation date of the student’s class but before full-time enrollment into any college or university. An official copy of the applicable certificate, along with test scores, will be required.

Note: A state high school equivalency exam cannot be used to satisfy proof of graduation requirements for the Eligibility Center if it was taken before the date the student would normally have graduated with their class. On-time graduation is typically based on the local school’s academic calendar. 

Home School Transcripts

All home school transcripts must include the following to be considered sufficient/official:

• Ninth grade start date (mm/dd/yyyy).
• Course titles.
• Grades achieved. 
• Units of credit for each course. Increments of .25, .50, .75, 1.0 or .34 or .67.
•  No course shall receive more than 1.0 unit of credit.
• Grading scale (if numeric grading is used, alpha/letter equivalent needed). 
•  100-90 = A; 89-80 = B; 79-70 = C; 69-60 = D; 59-0 = F.
• Signature from the home school administrator.
• Academic year in which the course was taken (e.g., “11th Grade,” “Junior Year 2022-23”).
• Graduation date (mm/dd/yyyy).
• Full name and complete home address of student.

Grades from one high school or program transcribed on another high school’s transcript will not be accepted. If a student was home schooled and attended a public or private high school, he or she must submit both a home school transcript with supporting documentation and a transcript sent from the public or private high school.

If you took home school courses through an established nontraditional program – such as an online, correspondence or tutoring program – which evaluated your coursework and issued a transcript, the program must submit your transcript to the Eligibility Center along with the program’s contact information. The nontraditional program would need to be approved for coursework to be considered..