NCAA Approves Age-Based Five Season Eligibility Model

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On Monday, the NCAA got around to the very last step of approving five years of playing eligibility in five school years for every student athlete. That is now the official law of the land, which effectively gets the NCAA out of the business of worrying about waivers for any reason at all. From the NCAA’s own press release.

The Division I Cabinet on Tuesday unanimously approved a sweeping overhaul of eligibility rules for student-athletes, permitting Division I student-athletes up to five years of eligibility if they enroll in college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday. The new rule streamlines a significant portion of the Division I rule book by eliminating season-of-competition limits, sport-specific eligibility and redshirt rules, and eligibility extension waivers.

blah blah blah, NCAA president Charlie Baker says things, the Student Athlete Advocacy Committee says things…. here we go, under the heading “Implementation.”

The rule change will be effective for all prospects initially enrolling full time in college in fall 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.

I’m going to swipe the version of the NCAA’s table of examples from CBS Sports, as Shehan Jeyarajah already typed it out into bullet points and why should I have to suffer?

• Student-athletes whose fourth season of collegiate eligibility was completed by spring 2026: No additional eligibility.
• Currently enrolled student-athletes with eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year: Flexibility for schools to apply the age-based model or continue with the previous eligibility rules (four seasons to compete with five total years of eligibility), whichever is most beneficial to that individual.
• Prospects expected to graduate from high school in spring 2027: Age-based model only.
• Prospects expected to graduate from high school in spring 2026, regardless of planned enrollment date: Age-based model only.
• Prospects who graduated prior to spring 2026 and have not enrolled: The NCAA Eligibility Center will review the prospect’s individual circumstances and apply the age-based model or existing delayed enrollment eligibility rules, whichever is most beneficial to that individual.

To use Marquette men’s basketball as an example:

2025-26 senior Chase Ross: No more eligibility

2025-26 freshman Nigel James: Four more years of eligibility, because that’s more beneficial for him

2026-27 freshman Alex Egbuonu: Five more years of eligibility

In fact, I think this needs a visual aid. Yep, we’re revamping the scholarship chart, because five years of eligibility for everyone going forward means we need a new color for players in their first season on campus.

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Ian Miletic and Nash Walker are slotted with the “four years remaining” group shaded in green because they were on campus last year but did not play. That’s Year One Of Five for them, which kind of stinks in terms of losing their redshirt season. However, there is no such thing as redshirt seasons any more at all. You get five seasons in five school years, it’s up to you and your coach to figure that out between y’all.

The only name on the chart that I am not confident in is Sananda Fru. That mostly has to do with the NCAA issuing him two years of eligibility under the old rules when he arrived at Louisville a year ago because of his age and time spent playing in Europe. It is possible that the “most beneficial” clause applies to him here, because he turned 19 in late August 2022. This is where we get down to the nitpicky detail of “what is the academic year after his 19th birthday?” If the NCAA counts August 1 as the start of the academic year, then he turned 19 during the 2022-23 academic year. If that is Year #1 on the clock for him, then 2026-27 will be his last season of eligibility. If 2023-24 — the academic year AFTER he turned 19 — is Year #1, then Fru would remain eligible until the end of the 2027-28 season. Did I send an email to Tyler McDevitt, the Marquette general manager, on this topic? Yes! Was it after business hours on Monday? Yes! Do I expect him to have an immediate answer on this topic on Tuesday? No! I presume that Marquette and the NCAA have to hash this one out a little bit, and honestly? They’ve got til March to settle it.

You guys wanna see the women’s basketball scholarship chart?

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Yes, I moved Ainoah Rio into the chart even though I have zero evidence to confirm that she’s actually joining the team this year. That’s why she gets a question mark for 2026-27. Rio just turned 20 in May, so if I’m counting correctly, she would have four years of eligibility remaining if she arrives on campus this year, and less if she’s actually not arriving until some point in the future.

Got questions about any/all of this? Holler at me in the comments, and I’ll do my best.

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