It's been about six years since the NCAA took a comprehensive look at initial eligibility standards for Division I athletes and a lot has changed since then. That's why, this summer, the Division I Academic Cabinet began a review of what high school students need to achieve in order to be eligible for NCAA Division I competition as freshmen.

"Every five to seven years, people start to ask if we are doing the right things with initial eligibility standards," says Carolyn Callahan, Faculty Athletics Representative at the University of Virginia and Chair of the Cabinet. "In that time, there have been major changes in NCAA continuing eligibility standards, as well as core course requirements. Even the SATs have changed. So we're looking to see whether we need to alter the initial eligibility standards, or if things should be left alone."

The Cabinet is also looking at national issues in education that may be a factor. "For example, do we have any data suggesting that grading systems in high schools have changed?" Callahan says. "Since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted, is the average GPA still 2.0? We just don't know, so we're gathering that data."

Any legislative proposals are at least a year away, if not longer, which gives interested observers plenty of time to weigh in. "College athletic directors should become part of the discussion based on their knowledge of the students at their universities," Callahan says. "At this point, we can't say, 'Get ready for this,' because we don't know what this is going to be. It's still a wide-open discussion. That's why any input from administrators on how the current system has helped or hindered student-athletes would be very helpful."

Callahan also encourages high school athletic directors to provide input. "We're going to do our own research, but we would love high schools to tell us what their normal core-course requirements for graduation are now," she says. "We know that's changed dramatically in many areas over the last five years, and we want to understand how those changes have impacted high school student-athletes. We'd rather learn about potential problems that might be out there now, before any legislation hits the books."

To provide your input to the NCAA Division I Academic Cabinet's review of initial eligibility standards, you can e-mail: cmc@virginia.edu.

The current NCAA Division I initial eligibility standards are available at: web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/general/index_general.html.