There Are Many Different Terms You May Come Across in the College Application and Athletic

There are many different terms you may come across in the college application and athletic recruiting process.
REDSHIRT - A redshirt is a player who can practice with the team but cannot participate in games vs. opponents. Redshirting is common in football to give players an extra year to mature and also common when a player has suffered an injury before the season starts. You can be asked to redshirt in any year by the coaching staff and do not have to be injured to redshirt. You can also dress and play in a game at any time, even if you are declared a redshirt. Once that happens, you lose your redshirt status.
OFFICIAL VISIT - Is a paid visit arranged by a college coach for you to come to their school for a period of up to 48 hours. You are allowed 5 official visits for D1 and D2 schools (5 total). You cannot have 5 for each sport you play. There is no limit for official visits for D3 colleges, you simply cannot have more than one at the same school. You cannot take an official visit until the school has received an official copy of your transcript.
PROSPECTIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE - You become a prospective student-athlete once you enter the 9th grade. This is a generic term used by the NCAA
CONTACT PERIOD - A period is that period of time when it is permissible for authorized athletics department staff members to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.
DEAD PERIOD - Period when NCAA coaches cannot make any contacts or evaluations in person or on campus. Phone calls and written correspondence is allowed.
QUIET PERIOD -Period when in-person recruiting contact can only occur on a college campus. No in-person or off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations are allowed.
EVALUATION PERIOD - Period of time when it is permissible for authorized athletics department staff members to be involved in off-campus activities designed to assess the academic qualifications and playing ability of prospects. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts shall be made with the prospect during an evaluation period.
NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT (NLI) - Is a binding document you sign with a school that signifies the award of athletic scholarship money for a period of one year at that school. It is offered at all NCAA D1 institutions and some NCAA D2 institutions. It is not offered at the D3 level. You can only sign one NLI with an NCAA school and it ends your recruiting process and signifies your commitment to a college.
INITIAL ELIGIBILITY CLEARINGHOUSE - The clearinghouse certifies all NCAA D1 and D2 athletes. You must register after your junior year and submit a final transcript after your senior year. The Clearinghouse uses a sliding scale based on your GPA and SAT/ACT scores to determine your eligibility.
FULL SCHOLARSHIP - A full scholarship usually means your room/board, tuition, meals, and books are paid for. The only sports/teams that guarantee to carry the NCAA maximum amount of scholarships are men's D1 basketball, women's D1 basketball, and D1 football. The remaining sports at the NCAA level have their available scholarships dictated by the individual schools.
PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP - Most scholarships are partial scholarships where a coach takes his available scholarship money and divides it up amongst many players on the team.
EARLY DECISION - Early decision is for applicants who know what their first choice school is and are ready to apply. You are only allowed to apply to one school for Early Decision. Early Decision is also binding, so if accepted you must attend that institution.
EARLY ACTION - Similar to Early Decision, Early Action is not binding however and you are free to apply to other schools during the regular admission period, even if you have been accepted to a school already under their Early Action plan.

EXPECTED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION (EFC) - The amount of money you and your family are expected to contribute to your college education.
COST OF ATTENDANCE (COA) - The costs associated with attending a particular institution. Your COA - your EFC is what your financial need is. As an example, if a school costs $20,000 per year (COA) and your EFC is $11,000 per year (what you can pay), your NEED is $9,000 per year.
FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid - FAFSA handles all student-aid applications. You can apply online starting January 1st for Federal Aid.
HEAD COUNT SPORTS - Head count sports are NCAA sports that cannot award more scholarship money to players than what the NCAA says is allowed. These sports are men's football (85 scholarships), men's and women's D1 basketball (13 scholarships for men and 15 for women), women's tennis (8 scholarships), women's volleyball (12 scholarships) and women's gymnastics (12 scholarships). While coaches can still divide scholarship money up to team members in head-count sports, they must adhere to the limits of scholarships per sport. Girls softball (a equivalency sport) has 12 scholarships available but the coach could divide that money up to 18 or 19 players if they so choose. Many women's tennis teams carry more than 8 players, but the coach cannot award more than 8 girls money because of the head-count-sport status.
LIKELY LETTER - A likely letter is the Ivy League's version of the National Letter of Intent. While the Ivy League does not offer scholarships or use the National Letter of Intent, the likely letter is basically a letter from admissions that basically says the school has reviewed your qualifications and will grant you acceptance. The Likely Letter is not binding, but schools frown upon applicants collecting more than one as they are often used by Ivy coaches who have received verbal commitments from players that said they would attend their University.
NAIA - National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics - The NAIA is a group of over 300 schools, mostly in the South and Midwest. They are small private institutions that offer athletic opportunities just like the NCAA does.
NJCAA - NationalJunior College Athletic Association - Junior College's are two-year universities that offer student-athletes the chance to participate in college athletics and learn how to be a college student. There are several hundred junior colleges that offer athletic scholarships and help athletes move on to four-year schools when they are ready.
NCAA - National Collegiate Athletic Association - is an association of 1,100+ colleges and universities broken down into 3 divisions (1,2, & 3). Athletic scholarships are offered at the D1 and D2 level. D3 can only offer financial aid and grants. While their are many differences between divisions, the main difference is the number of sports a team must offer in order to be classified as a certain division. For instance a D1 institution must offer 16 sports (8 for men and 8 for women) to be considered D1.
NEED BLIND - Need blind colleges accept students regardless of their income or financial need and base your acceptance strictly on your application.
YIELD - Yield is the number of students that enroll in a particular college based on the number accepted. Elite programs like Harvard have yields of roughly 90%, meaning if Harvard accepts 2,000 students in a given year, its almost certain that 1,800 of those students are going to enroll. the number is important to schools because it tells them how many students they accept and tells you how competitive a given school can be.
ROLLING ADMISSIONS - Schools with rolling admissions accept student applications on a rolling basis, meaning there is no start or end date. If you are applying to schools like this, you need to have your application in sooner, rather than later.
WAITLISTS - A waitlist is a list that colleges use for students that they have not accepted in their initial acceptance period. Once acceptances have been sent out and students register, schools will turn to their waitlists to fill any gaps in the newest entering class.
WALK-ON - A walk-on is a student-athlete that is not receiving scholarship money in his/her first year and did not sign a National Letter of Intent. You can be an invited walk-on where a coach asks you to come to the school and "walk-on". This often means the coach has used up their scholarship money but has available spots on the team. You can also be an uninvited walk-on and simply show up to practice and tryout. Most coaches rely on walk-on's to fill in gaps on their team.