NCAA grants extra year of eligibility for spring sport athletes

The NCAA has granted an extra year of eligibility for all spring sport student-athletes. The Division 1 Council voted on this historic measure on Monday to give student-athletes another chance after their seasons were cut short due to COVID-19.

According to a release from the NCAA, the financial aid rules have been adjusted, so teams can have more scholarships in order to account for incoming freshman and current student-athletes who decide to stay.

With that said, seniors who decide to stay are not guaranteed the same financial aid they received this season.

"In a nod to the financial uncertainty faced by higher education, the Council vote also provided schools with the flexibility to give students the opportunity to return for 2020-21 without requiring that athletics aid be provided at the same level awarded for 2019-20," Associate Director of Communications Michelle Brutlag Hosick said in a release. "This flexibility applies only to student-athletes who would have exhausted eligibility in 2019-20."

The NCAA will allow schools to use the NCAA's Student Assistant Fund to help out with the extra costs of allowing seniors to stay an extra year.

This decision affects every level of Division 1 student-athletes. Current freshman spring sport student-athletes will still have four years of eligibility. Sophomores will still have three years of eligibility. Juniors will still have two years of eligibility.

“The Council’s decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level,” said Council chair and University of Pennsylvania athletics director Grace Calhoun. “The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that.”

The NCAA said winter sport student-athletes will not be granted another year of eligibility.