A Whole New (Eligibility) World: The NCAA Shifts To Age-Based Model

The NCAA Division I Cabinet has approved changes to the eligibility framework for DI student-athletes. The new framework shifts from the “five-year rule” to an “age-based” eligibility model, eliminating season-of-competition limits, sport-specific eligibility and redshirt rules, and eligibility extension waivers. The new “age-based” model seeks to simplify eligibility and create more consistent application of NCAA Bylaws across the entire NCAA.

Key Changes

• The period of eligibility begins at the start of the academic year immediately following a prospective student-athlete’s 19th birthday or upon initial, full-time collegiate enrollment, whichever occurs first. 
• Student-athletes have five years of eligibility to participate in college sports. The distinction between a season of competition and a year of eligibility will be removed.
• Waivers and redshirts will be eliminated; only narrow exceptions to potentially extend this timeframe will exist for this new five-year framework (e.g., pregnancy, religious mission, and active-duty military service).

This new eligibility framework was spurred in part by the increasing difficulties faced by the NCAA in courtrooms throughout the country. In the past, when faced with legal challenges to a student-athlete’s eligibility, the NCAA would routinely argue the “five-year rule” was designed to align college sports careers with college academic careers. Yet, in its current application, the “five-year rule” allows for older players to participate in NCAA athletics well past the normal age for college athletes. The most notable example is Chris Weinke, who entered Florida State University as a freshman following a six-year professional baseball career and ended up winning the Heisman Trophy at 28 years of age. Lewis Brisbois Partners Gregg Clifton and Conor Donze defeated this disingenuous approach to eligibility in Braham v. NCAA and Martinson v. NCAA, successfully arguing the five-year rule was being improperly applied to former junior college athletes.

In the June 11, 2026 the NCAA D1 Cabinet issued a ‘Q&A’ on the new age-based model. The NCAA stated, “the cabinet has looked into alterations that would align academic participation with athletics progress in an era of increased student-athlete compensation, enhance opportunities for both existing and incoming student-athletes, and eliminate aspects of the current system that have proven difficult to administer, including in light of the current litigation environment, such as redshirt and waiver processes.”

Now, under the age-based eligibility model, the NCAA seeks a clearly carved-out system, with little room for interpretation or variance in application, with a goal of decreasing the frequent negative judicial decisions against the NCAA. In essence, the new model for college athletics is akin to how high school athletics are organized: four years – freshman, sophomore, junior, senior – injuries or hardships aside, this is the time allotted. 

The rule change will be effective for all prospects initially enrolling full-time in college in the fall of 2027 or later. For students enrolling full time in college for the first time in fall 2026 and current student-athletes with eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year, Division I schools will apply the previous rules (allowing four seasons of competition within five years) or the age-based model, whichever results in the most favorable outcome for each individual.

For current student-athletes with eligibility remaining under the previous rules, schools must submit any season-of-competition or eligibility clock extension waiver requests based on circumstances that occurred during or before the 2025-26 academic year — and all supporting documentation — to the national office no later than July 31, 2026. After that date, waivers of the previous rules will no longer be available.

The NCAA Eligibility Center will administer the certification of an individual’s period of eligibility, including the narrowly legislated exceptions that apply to the new rules. The NCAA Division I Athletics Eligibility Subcommittee will then make final determinations in situations where the facts upon which a certification is based are in dispute.

This eligibility reform was first discussed during the DI Cabinet meeting in October 2025. The DI Cabinet continued these discussions after receiving feedback from its college stakeholders. The discussions included the application of the model, timing of implementation, exceptions, additional academic considerations and the timeline for action.

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