On Wednesday morning, the NCAA Division I Council approved the elimination of the National Letter of Intent program. 

The removal of the 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.

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What Is A NCAA National Letter of Intent?

The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between an incoming student-athlete and an NLI member institution. Under the agreement, a student-athlete agrees to attend the institution for one academic year and the institution agrees to provide athletic financial aid.

The program started in 1964 and is a voluntary program for institutions and student-athletes. Prospective student-athletes or guardians are not required to sign a NLI. Signing an NLI would also cease the recruitment process of a prospective student-athlete.

If a student-athlete transferred to another institution before the end of one full academic year, the individual would lose one season of competition in all sports.

What Changes For Prospective NCAA Student-Athletes?

The NLI will likely be replaced by financial aid and scholarship agreements. There is a chance that the general structure of these agreements could vary from institution to institution.

Two days ago, the House vs. NCAA settlement received preliminary approval. The $2.8 billion anti-trust settlement essentially clears the way for schools to begin revenue-sharing with student-athletes as soon as the 2025-26 school year.

The settlement still faces a full approval process.

With the cessation of NLI, prospective student-athletes may sign agreements that read more like professional contracts than scholarship agreements.

In the world of track and field, top-tier Division I programs may continue to look for new ways to generate revenue, with the hope of utilizing that revenue as a recruiting tool. 

However, NCAA cross country and track and field programs could potentially be threatened by these landmark changes. With many institutions prioritizing revenue driving sports like football, they could move toward gutting other athletic programs, with men's programs specifically being targeted due to Title IX plausibility.

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