Insights · NIL
A school can put its own money in a signed contract. It can't promise you a brand deal. Here's where the line sits before you sign in December.
Insights
The National Letter of Intent is gone: the NCAA ended it on October 9, 2024. A recruit now signs an athletics aid agreement, a revenue-sharing contract (the NCAA calls it a settlement related benefits agreement), or both. Signing either one stops other schools from recruiting you.
Insights
Anything the school itself pays you has to be in a signed, written agreement, which the school uploads to the College Sports Commission's system within five business days. It counts against the school's revenue-sharing cap, about $21.58 million in 2026-27, and it can't run past your eligibility. Schools also certify each year that no athlete was promised payments outside those written agreements.
Insights
Since July 1, 2025, a school may not promise or guarantee you a third-party NIL deal, out loud or in writing. "Our collective will get you $200,000" is exactly the kind of guarantee the rule bans.
Insights
A collective, a booster who has given more than $50,000, or anyone who helped recruit you counts as "associated" with the school you end up attending. An associated payer may pay you only for a real business purpose, at a rate in line with comparable athletes, and the deal has to actually use your name, image or likeness. Money raised to get athletes to enroll somewhere doesn't qualify. Deals from businesses with no tie to the school get much less scrutiny.
Insights
When you enroll, you report every third-party deal worth $600 or more (counting several deals with the same payer, and product, gear or services, together) that was signed or paid after July 1, 2025 or after the first day of your junior year of high school, whichever is later. The deadline is 14 days after you enroll or before your first game, whichever comes first. You can't log into NIL Go until you've enrolled, so keep your contracts and payment records from junior year on.