NCAA Announces Age-Based Eligibility Model

The past few years of collegiate athletics have seen the NCAA scrambling to keep up with several waivers and extended eligibility for athletes. As the ever-shifting landscape of college athletics continues to change, the NCAA has enacted a new “5 for 5” rule that limits the eligibility of athletes to five years to play five years. Gone are the days of medical redshirts, COVID exemptions, and six- or seven-year collegiate athletes. Here’s a brief overview of the changes in the process per the NCAA.

Key Changes

Instead of being based on years of athletic competition, the NCAA is adopting an age-based model. Per the NCAA’s release, “5 for 5" is a bit of a misnomer. With the new age-based eligibility model, “student-athletes who meet all eligibility requirements and enter college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday generally will have up to five years of eligibility.” The model does away with items like redshirts, medical waivers, and rules centered around competition in the sports themselves. The rule also applies across all sports, meaning there are no differences from sport to sport.

Exceptions

While redshirts and injury waivers will no longer be a part of the equation, the new age-based eligibility model does provide for three specific exceptions. First, time spent in active-duty military service is excluded from the age-based eligibility model. Religious missions are also excluded from the age-based model. However, it is important to note that athletes are only granted the exception if they do not participate in competition during the time the waiver applies.

Student-athlete pregnancy is also an exception under the new NCAA eligibility model.

Essentially, this means that the days of athletes extending eligibility beyond the norm have ended. Players will no longer be able to enter the portal beyond their fifth year of enrollment which should theoretically prevent long-tenured players from taking spots away from younger high school athletes beginning their eligibility clock.

We’ll keep an eye on the situation as more outcomes from the new NCAA model become evident.