Alex SwensonRecruiting Advisor| This is a digital version of Alex

The NCAA just changed college eligibility forever…

30 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:23

In this short YouTube commentary, the speaker explains the NCAA’s newly announced age‑based eligibility model that currently applies only to Division I athletics. The old system gave athletes five calendar years to complete four seasons of competition; the new model expands that to five seasons within a five‑year clock. The clock begins either in the academic year after high‑school graduation (when a student becomes a freshman) or the academic year after the athlete turns 19. The change was motivated by concerns over increasingly older players (mid‑20s) and the proliferation of waivers. The speaker invites parents, athletes, coaches, and scouts to share their thoughts and questions about the new rules and speculates that Division II and III may adopt similar models in the future.

Chapters

Parents, athletes, what do you guys think of the new age-based eligibility model that just came out from NCAA for Division I sports only right now? But I do expect Division II to follow suit, and then eventually Division III. We'll see what they do. And there's a lot of opinions out there from coaches and scouts and things like that, but I have a lot of parents and athletes that follow me, and I want to hear what you guys think and any questions that you have. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, A new model just came out for college athletes of basically how long they could play and when their clock starts. The old model was you had 5 years to complete 4 years of eligibility, and the new models, you have 5 years to play 5 years of college athletics right now at the Division I level. But it all matters when your clock starts, and the reason that this changed was because things were getting out of control with kids being 25, 26, 27, and all these different waivers. Out. And just a real quick synopsis of when basically your clock starts is when you graduate high school, the academic year the next year after that, the fall, basically when you become a freshman, your clock starts. Or when you turn 19 and the next academic year starts for college, that's when it starts there. But I want to hear what you guys think. Go on and comment below and any questions that you have.