In brief, the Clearinghouse reviews the student's official high school transcript and official SAT or ACT test scores. There are a variety of NCAA committees, most of which draw their membership from member institutions' athletic personnel, administrators, and faculty representatives. There are committees dealing with individual men's and women's sports, as well as those dealing with pervasive issues such as academics, eligibility, medical aspects, honors, and minority issues, to name just a few. An idea strongly supported by the NCAA that each member institution employ a team approach to the issue of compliance. Generally included as members of the team are representatives from the admissions office, the registrar's office, student services or affairs, the financial aid office, the faculty athletics committee, the athletics department, and the faculty representative.
Members meet regularly to discuss issues of concern to student-athlete and to the athletics program.
Division I, II, and III Subdivisions of the NCAA membership based roughly on the size of the athletic program and the athletic budget. Eligibility for membership within a division considers criteria such as minimum number of men's and women's sports offered and minimum number of and dollar amount of athletics scholarships awarded. Many of the NCAA rules are similar for all three divisions, but there are also some divisional-specific rules and requirements. Divisions I and II both offer athletic scholarships, while Division III may not offer any athletically-related financial aid. The term used to allocate a total amount of financial aid over more than one student, thereby giving each one a portion of a total award.