An NCAA spokesman said Monday the college sports governing body will consider changing a rule that would make Illinois students seeking college athletic eligibility take a state-mandated college entrance exam twice.
A pioneering Illinois testing program requires that students take the ACT college entrance test as part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which will be held for the first time April 25.
Students taking the test will be able to have the results sent to colleges and universities, but under current NCAA rules the results wouldn’t count in determining college sports eligibility because the test wouldn’t be given on a “national” test day, usually a Saturday.
Illinois students will be given the test on a weekday because the state can’t require students to come to school on a Saturday.
Colorado is also planning to give the ACT test on a weekday as part of its state examination, and it would also run afoul of the NCAA regulation.
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The problem will affect only about 4,000 of the approximately 150,000 students in Illinois taking the test, and, in any case, the student athletes will get a voucher to retake the test without the $23 charge on a Saturday in October–a “national” test date–according to state education officials.
Many students already take the test twice to improve their scores.
Wallace Renfro, NCAA public relations director, said the organization’s subcommittee on initial eligibility would almost certainly take up the issue at its next scheduled meeting in February if not before.
He said the rule had originally been put in place when more rigid eligibility requirements for college athletes were adopted 15 years ago and there was widespread suspicion of corruption in determining eligibility.
The “national” test date rule was intended to ensure that tests–which can be either SATs or ACTs–were administered in a consistent and fair manner.
ACT officials say the Illinois and Colorado tests will be completely comparable to and consistent with the tests administered on the “national” test dates, and colleges and universities around the country will almost certainly accept the results.