EDUCATION / SCHOLARSHIPS
CLEARINGHOUSE AND HOPE SCHOLARSHIP RULES
For any athlete that wants to continue playing sports into their collegiate days,
knowing about the importance of the "Clearinghouse Rules" and how the
"Hope" scholarship can help you is imperative.
INITIAL-ELIGIBILITY CLEARINGHOUSE
A central clearinghouse will certify your athletics eligibility for Division I and II. If you intend to participate in Division I or II athletics as a Freshman, you must register and be certified by the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse. The following web links will better clarify this process and start you on your way to being certified. This process will cost you $30 and can be done with your school or on the web (credit card needed). This eligibility clearinghouse basically is verifying that you took the required approved NCAA Core Courses while in high school. Since the NCAA is verifying your Core Courses, it is recommended that you apply AFTER your Junior year. When you take your SAT's, be sure to mark code 9999 on the test and your scores will automatically be sent to the NCAA Clearinghouse.
All of this information plus much more is located at:
Also, to get a feel for the NCAA overall, go to:
this website also has a link to the clearinghouse.
HOPE SCHOLARSHIP
(Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally)
OK, now you know how to become eligible for college sports but you are not done. The odds of making it to the pros is pretty slim (but that doesn't mean you can't still shoot for it):
1 high school football player makes the pros for every 6,000 enrolled in high school
1 high school basketball player makes the pros for every 10,000 enrolled in high school
So just in case you are not one of those "1's" above, maybe it would be a good idea to get a good education while you're at it. Also, since only 11.7 scholarships go to baseball players, any coach who has a tough decision to make between two borderline players will almost always pick the one who qualifies for the HOPE scholarship.
If you are taking a "college prep" curriculum in high school, you need to hold at least a 3.0 grade point average to qualify for the HOPE scholarship. If you are taking a "tech" curriculum, the GPA must be 3.2. The HOPE scholarship will pay for tuition, books and other incidentals (not room and board) to all public or private Georgia colleges. As long as you maintain the 3.0 GPA, you will continue to receive the HOPE scholarship. This and other information can be found at:
If you have any other questions on either of these two important items, please see your coach or guidance counselor.
