Academic eligibility for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)  includes a high school diploma, specific standardized test scores, and a certain set of high school credits. While the graduation requirements in Michigan are more than enough to fulfill the NCAA’s course requirements, the NCAA does not recognize all courses taught as applicable towards eligibility. A list of denied courses is published on the NCAA’s website and students taking those classes cannot apply them towards eligibility.

However, it isn’t always that simple. Said CHS counselor John Boshoven of the list of denied courses, “Behind that list is the list of courses they once approved with… another way of indicating what the class is called. What we always find out is that the denied list is not necessarily the denied list.”

During the first week of the second semester, some college-bound senior athletes encountered problems with the eligibility system.  Drake Johnson, who will play football for Michigan next year, faced scheduling issues. “It was the beginning of the second semester… I went into class and my teacher kept telling me that I wasn’t in the class,” he said.

A confused Johnson went to the counseling office only to find out that he had been withdrawn because the NCAA had denied two and a half of his English credits. Only his Englsih classes from first semesters of this year and his freshman year were approved. His physics class was also not approved at that point.  Of the four English credits required, the NCAA recognized only one. He was also one credit short of the required four extra core classes. It seemed as if he would have one semester to makeup two and a half years of English.

Boshoven contacted the Ann Arbor Public Schools central office, which in turn called the NCAA. “The NCAA dug down and looked over five years of our records, [and] they found the courses, most of them,” said Boshoven. All of the unapproved English classes were found and Physics was approved as of February 8.

“In the end, it’s probably going to be a tempest in the teapot.  But at the time, we had no way of knowing what the outcome would be,” said Boshoven. “The NCAA could say, ‘We’re not looking anymore, we don’t care what used to be there.’”

Nontraditional classes have long been a way for students to experience personalized and relevant education. While online classes taken through the Michigan Virtual High School are approved, Community Resource classes are not. Each CR instructor would have to go through a long and traditional approval process. Boshoven “advise[s] potential NCAA athletes to not chose CR’s to meet core course needs.”

Boshoven’s advice for students interested in pursuing athletics in college was simple: “Don’t wait until you’re a senior, plan ahead. It might impact your course schedule later.”

The published list of accepted and denied courses at Community can be viewed at web1.ncaa.org/hsportal/exec/hsAction. The CEEB code for Community is 230084.