Does the NCAA still use a sliding scale for eligibility?

No. The NCAA Division I Council permanently eliminated the sliding scale and the standardized test score requirement for initial athletic eligibility in January 2023, at the 2023 NCAA Convention. Divisions I and II had already waived test scores temporarily starting in 2020 because of the pandemic; the 2023 vote made that permanent rather than reverting to the old system.

What replaced the NCAA sliding scale?

A flat core-course GPA minimum with no test-score component: 2.3 for Division I, 2.2 for Division II, calculated only from NCAA-approved core courses (16 of them), not a student's full transcript GPA.

Do colleges still require SAT or ACT scores if the NCAA doesn't?

Possibly, yes -- separately from athletics. The NCAA's test-optional policy governs athletic eligibility certification only. A university's own admissions office, and its own automatic merit scholarship chart, can still require a test score even though the NCAA itself no longer does -- these are two completely separate gates a recruited athlete may still have to clear.

Does the NCAA Still Use a Sliding Scale? No -- It Was Permanently Eliminated in 2023

For years, "NCAA sliding scale" was one of the most searched phrases in recruiting -- a real, calculable chart where a higher test score bought you a lower GPA requirement, and vice versa. A lot of what's still online about it, including entire guides published in 2026, describes that chart as if it's current. It isn't. The sliding scale is gone, and understanding what actually replaced it matters more than memorizing a chart that no longer applies.

What actually happened, and when

Division I had already waived standardized test score requirements on a temporary basis starting in 2020, because of the pandemic's effect on students' ability to sit for the SAT or ACT at all. That waiver became permanent at the 2023 NCAA Convention, when the Division I Council formally voted to eliminate test score requirements for initial eligibility for incoming freshman student-athletes -- not another temporary extension, a structural rule change. Division II adopted the same permanent removal. The sliding scale itself -- the mechanism that let a strong test score offset a weaker GPA, or the reverse -- doesn't exist anymore, because there's no test-score input left for it to slide against.

What replaced it: a flat GPA line, no test score at all

Eligibility now runs entirely on core-course GPA, calculated only from NCAA-approved classes, not your full high school transcript:

Division I: 2.3 minimum core-course GPA. See exactly how that GPA is calculated and what the 16-course, 10/7 rule actually requires.
Division II: 2.2 minimum core-course GPA.
Division III doesn't use this system at all -- see how D1, D2, and D3 eligibility rules actually differ.

There's no test score anywhere in this calculation. A recruited athlete with a 2.3+ core GPA and no SAT or ACT score on file at all is fully eligible under current NCAA rules -- something that would have been impossible under the old sliding scale, which required a qualifying test score no matter how strong the GPA was.

The part that trips people up: the NCAA not requiring a score doesn't mean the school doesn't

This is the genuinely confusing part, and it's the same trap covered in our piece on test scores and merit scholarships at test-optional schools: the NCAA's rule governs athletic eligibility certification only. It says nothing about what a specific university's admissions office requires to admit you, or what that same university's automatic merit scholarship chart requires to award you money. A recruited athlete can clear the NCAA's 2.3 core-GPA bar with zero test scores submitted anywhere, get admitted to a school that requires a test score for admission, and separately miss out on an automatic scholarship tier that requires one too -- three different gates, only one of which the NCAA change actually touched.

If your GPA falls short of the flat line

The old sliding scale gave a below-cutoff GPA a path back in through a strong test score. That path is gone, but a version of a partial-qualifier tier still exists below the full 2.3 line -- see what an Academic Redshirt actually is and what it does and doesn't allow for how the current system handles a student who doesn't clear the full-qualifier bar outright, and what Nonqualifier status means if you fall short of even that.

What this means for you

Stop looking for a current sliding scale chart. Any resource presenting one as active NCAA policy is describing a system that was eliminated in January 2023.
A test score is no longer required for NCAA athletic eligibility, full stop -- at Division I or Division II. Don't submit one purely to satisfy an NCAA requirement that no longer exists.
Check the school's own admission and scholarship requirements separately. The NCAA dropping its test-score requirement has no bearing on whether the university you're being recruited to still wants one for admission or for its own merit money.
Know your core-course GPA specifically, not your overall transcript GPA. Only NCAA-approved core courses count toward the 2.3/2.2 threshold, and that number can differ meaningfully from what's on your report card.
Clearing the initial 2.3 line isn't the end of the academic requirements. A separate set of rules -- progress-toward-degree benchmarks -- kicks in every year after you're enrolled, with its own credit-hour and GPA thresholds.