The NCAA’s National Letter of Intent in all sports other than football can be signed beginning Wednesday, November 14. Athletes being recruited by NJCAA two-year colleges can sign beginning November 1.
When an athlete signs a National Letter of Intent with an NCAA Division I or II program, they are – in effect – signing a “contract” to attend that university for at least one full academic year in exchange for the university’s offer of an athletic scholarship.
If the athlete changes their mind and chooses to not attend that university, or doesn’t attend the university for at least one full academic year, they will be penalized a season of eligibility at another Division I or II program unless that athlete is:
- Released from the NLI one-year commitment by the university that they signed with;
- Granted a full release on appeal by the National Letter of Intent Appeal Committee; or
- Attends a junior college and graduates from that junior college with an Associate’s Degree.
For those athletes or families who are preparing to sign the National Letter of Intent, here’s a link to an article that describes the difficulty that one athlete had in her transfer from one college to another after she decided to not attend the university with which she had signed her National Letter of Intent.
These situations don’t happen very often, but this article illustrates one of the downsides of signing a National Letter of Intent and how important it is to understand the rules regarding an NLI BEFORE you sign:
https://bit.ly/2CTQBWz
If you have questions about the National Letter of Intent and need assistance, schedule a confidential consult online or call our office at 913-766-1235.
