National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent ( NLI ) is a document used to indicate a student athlete ' s commitment to participating National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) colleges and universities in the United States . The NCAA Eligibility Center manages the daily operations of the NLI program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association ( CCA ) provides governance oversight of the program . Started in 1964 with seven conferences and eight independent institutions , the program now includes 676 Division I and II participating institutions . There are designated dates for different sports , and these dates are commonly referred to as " Signing Day " . Division III institutions are specifically banned from using the NLI , or any similar document that is not executed by non - athletes at those institutions . NLIs are typically faxed by the recruited student to the university ' s athletic department on a National Signing Day . The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student - athletes . No prospective student - athlete or parent is required to sign the National Letter of Intent , and no institution is required to join the program . History . J . William Davis , Professor of Government and Faculty Athletics Representative at Texas Technological College ( now Texas Tech University ) , created the National Letter of Intent program in 1964 . He was assisted by Howard Grubbs , who was Commissioner of the Southwest Conference at the time . In October 2007 , the NCAA became responsible for the administration of the program . NLIs and the recruiting process . National Letters of Intent may only be signed by prospective student - athletes who will be entering a four - year institution for the first time in the academic year after they sign the NLI . Recruits who have signed NLIs must attend the schools they have signed with in order to receive financial aid , and NCAA rules forbid coaches from recruiting them further ; these restrictions aim to add certainty to the recruiting process for both players ( who are certain to receive aid ) and coaches ( who are certain that a recruit will attend their school ) alike . By contrast , verbal commitments are nonbinding ; recruits may change or revoke a verbal commitment at any time , and coaches may continue to recruit a verbally committed player . The restrictive nature of the NLI is designed to be advantageous to both prospective student - athletes and intercollegiate athletics programs . Intercollegiate athletics departments are not required to provide financial aid in cases where a student - athlete is not admitted for academic reasons . Seth Davis , a columnist for " Sports Illustrated " , has suggested that this arrangement is actually disadvantageous to student - athletes , as they have no recourse if an athletics department decides not to admit a player for non - academic reasons ; for example , an athletics department could replace a signed recruit with another recruit by claiming that the first one was not admitted for academic reasons . Faxing of letters . Given the methods of transmitting NLIs that are available under NCAA rules , the letters are typically faxed by students to the university ' s athletic department . Although NCAA rules allow for use of postal mail and courier , and electronic transmission , nearly all students opt for fax machines , because of the speed of transmission and the ease of verifying signatures sent that way .