UPDATE 03/31/20: We asked the NCAA for clarification on a few topics following the D1 Council’s decision on Monday night. Through a spokesman, the NCAA confirmed that the increase in scholarship limits only applies to the 2020-21 season and only for seniors who would have exhausted their eligibility with the 2020 season.
If a would-be senior chooses to transfer to play their final season with the extended eligibility, they are permitted to do so, but any financial aid that they receive counts against their new school’s regular annual scholarship limit.
UPDATE 03/30/20: The NCAA released an official statement, minutes after the news broke, confirming the blanket eligibility waiver. In the statement, it was confirmed that the Council additionally voted to “allow teams to carry more members on scholarship to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes who had been in their last year of eligibility who decide to stay.”
The initial report that differing levels of financial aid would be allowed was confirmed, but clarified to only apply to student-athletes whose eligibility would have expired with the 2020 campaign. Schools will have the ability to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to :pay for scholarships for students who take advantage of the additional eligibility flexibility in 2020-21.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
The NCAA’s D1 Council has approved a “blanket waiver for all spring-sport athletes to get an extra year of eligibility,” according to a report from The Athletic‘s Nicole Auerbach (link)
According to Auerbach’s report, individual schools will be allowed to determine the level of financial aid granted to each student-athlete, even if it is at a lower level than what the student-athlete received for the 2019-20 year.
The D1 Council voted on the issue on Monday afternoon and evening; the Council is made up of forty conference commissioners; athletic directors; senior woman administrators; and faculty athletic representatives, in addition to two student-athlete representatives.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
