Alex SwensonRecruiting Advisor| This is a digital version of Alex

Most families do not find out about the NCAA 10/7 rule until it is too late.

10 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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1:12

In this concise video, a former Division I coach, scout, and recruiter warns families and prospective college athletes about the often‑misunderstood NCAA Division I “10/7” core‑course eligibility rule. The speaker explains that to be eligible for Division I athletics, a student‑athlete must complete ten NCAA‑approved core courses by the end of their junior year, with at least seven of those courses in English, math, or science. He emphasizes that once those ten courses are taken, the athlete’s GPA is essentially locked, so improving grades in the junior or senior year will not affect eligibility. Consequently, he advises families to begin planning and taking the required courses as early as ninth grade. The rule applies only to Division I; Division II and III have different standards, which he promises to cover in a future video. The overall message is a cautionary call to act early to avoid losing eligibility due to this rule.

Chapters

Families, the NCAA 10/7 rule is one of the most misunderstood eligibility rules if you want to play college athletics, and too many families find out about this too late. Here's what it means: if your athlete wants to play at the Division I level, they need to complete 10 NCAA-approved core courses by the end of their junior year, and out of those 10 courses, 7 must be in English, math, or science— hence the 10/7 rule. And this is another thing that's very, very important as well. Once you take those 10 courses, your GPA is pretty much locked in. So trying to make up grades your junior and definitely senior year, it's not going to help you. Hence, you need to start looking at this seriously in 9th grade. Important note here, this rule applies to Division I only. Division II and Division III have other eligibility standards, which I'll go into another video. So give me a follow here, but big takeaways. Start in 9th grade. If you wait too late, your junior year, I've seen this time and time again as a former D1 coach, scout, and recruiter, we would lose so many good athletes to rules like this and GPA rules. So get the ball rolling, making sure that you're eligible in the classroom.