A formal letter of intent is called a National Letter of Intent, or NLI. It is a binding contract between a student-athlete and an NCAA college or university that states the athlete will receive finical aid for one academic year in exchange for attending said school as a member of its athletic program.
The National Letter of Intent Program is administered by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and overseen by the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA). The NCAA eligibility office handles all guidelines concerning financial aid gained through letters of intent.
Each NLI must contain a separate financial aid agreement, which varies by college or university. Signing a letter of intent also means the student-athlete cannot be recruited by any other colleges or universities that participate in the NLI program. If another school sends recruiting information to a student-athlete who already has signed an NLI, they are in violation of the NLI program.
An NLI is typically signed by a student-athlete by a certain date during the school year, depending on which sport she plays. After a student visits colleges interested in recruiting him, he usually sits down with his family and makes a decision about which school to attend. Once the decision is made, the student-athlete visits the director and coaches at the school of her choice and signs an NLI.
In cases where the student-athlete has been heavily recruited, especially those who decide to attend a school with a highly ranked athletic program, a news conference might be held for the signing.
Rarely, a student who has signed a letter of intent decides not to attend the school for the full academic year. Whatever reason he has for breaching the agreement, there are consequences for doing so, including loss of one season of athletic eligibility in all sports or a residence requirement. In the event of a mandatory residence requirement, the student-athlete will be prohibited from attending another college until she completes one full academic year with the school she signed the NLI for.
Those who want to be released from their NLI obligations must sign a Release Request Form. If their request is denied, they can appeal it by filing out a National Letter of Intent Appeal Form.