NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Program.

The removal of NLI program will effectively change the recruitment and financial-aid process for student-athletes. This comes following the drastic changes to the NCAA landscape, specifically with the emergence of name, image and likeness.

The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a student athlete and an NLI member institution. Under the agreement, a student-athlete agrees to attend the institution for one academic year and the institute agrees to provide financial help. If a student-athlete is transferred to another institution before the end of one full academic year, the individual would lose one season of competition in all sports.

The elimination of NLI goes into effect immediately and starts with 2025 class. In lieu of the NCAA’s $2.8 billion settlement in the House vs. NCAA lawsuit, schools can now share upto $22 million yearly with their student-athletes.

With this decision, things will change drastically. Student-athletes and their schools will sign a scholarship as well a financial aid agreement.  This will smoothen the signing process and reduce the confusion between NLI and NCAA legislation.

This change would help in making a way for the new portal landscape we see throughout college athletics, most prominently in football and basketball.

Students still sign some form of binding agreement. The dates outlined in the NCAA’s Legislative committee report from their September meeting are as follows;

Football: Early signing begins at the Wednesday following the last FBS regular season game at 7 a.m. and through the immediate following Friday. Regular signing begins at 7 a.m. on the first Wednesday of February.

Basketball: Early signing begins at 7 a.m. on the second Wednesday of November through the following Wednesday, Regular signing begins the Wednesday in April one week after the men’s and women’s championships have concluded.

All Other Sports: 7 a.m. on the first Wednesday of November.

In an effort to combat the overwhelming amount of football and basketball transfers, the council has planned to shorten the transfer window from 45 days to 30 days. There was also a vote to eliminate the spring window completely but that did not pass.