The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has approved a fifth year of eligibility for student-athletes.
According to the NAIA, the structure of its ‘Path Forward’ program differs from the NCAA eligibility rules in several ways. The NAIA will link a student’s fifth year of eligibility to academic progress, not age, meaning that as long as the student is earning the correct number of credit hours and meeting all other requirements, they will be eligible for a fifth year regardless of age.
The five seasons of competition also do not have to be contested consecutively, allowing student-athletes to take time away from school, enroll part time and return to play at a later date.
The new eligibility model will go into effect with the Fall 2027 competition season, and institutions may begin applying the new eligibility model as early as May 2027.
Any currently or soon-to-be enrolled NAIA student-athlete may be eligible for the fifth season of eligibility so long as they have not exhausted 10 semesters of attendance by Fall 2027. They may have at most four seasons of competition completed, and student-athletes currently competing in their fourth season of competition may be cleared for a fifth in Fall 2027.
Despite passing the new eligibility rules, the NAIA will not require member institutions to adopt the fifth-year rule. Individual schools may adopt eligibility rules that are more strict than the NAIA, but they cannot make rules more lenient.
Other previous eligibility rules will remain, such as barring a student-athlete from competing when their GPA drops below a 2.0 and barring a student-athlete from competing after they have competed in a professional setting.
NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr said the legislation gives student-athletes greater flexibility to pursue their academic and athletic goals while providing additional time to develop and prepare for life after college sports.
