The NCAA Eligibility Center manages the daily operations of the NLI program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) provides governance oversight of the program. Started in 1964 with seven conferences and eight independent institutions, the program now includes 610 Division I and II participating institutions.
The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the National Letter of Intent, and no institution is required to join the program.
Over the years, some of the terms of the NLI agreement have changed, yet the program’s basic goals have remained the same:
- To reduce and limit recruiting pressure on student-athletes; and
- To promote and preserve the amateur nature of collegiate athletics.
By signing a NLI, a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Pursuant to the terms of the NLI program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules. An important provision of the NLI program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a NLI is signed with another institution.
The NLI has many advantages to both prospective student-athletes and participating educational institutions:
- Once a NLI is signed, prospective student-athletes are no longer subject to further recruiting contacts and calls.
- Student-athletes are assured of an athletics scholarship for one full academic year. (If not for the NLI program, a student could find his/her scholarship taken by a more highly recruited student only weeks or days before classes begin.)
- Institutions can be certain that once the student-athlete has signed a Letter of Intent, there is no need to continue recruiting for that position. (Without the program, last-minute changes by student-athletes could open scholarships and positions on teams.)
- By emphasizing student-athletes’ commitments to educational institutions, not particular coaches or teams, the program focuses university athletics on educational objectives. The program promotes student-athletes’ academic objectives and helps to sustain the amateur nature of college sports
