The National Letter of Intent program is administered by the Collegiate Commissioners Association, and managed on a day-to-day basis by the NCAA Eligibility Center staff. Given this affiliation with the CCA, it is actually conferences that join the National Letter of Intent program on behalf of their participating institutions.

Currently 55 conferences are members of the National Letter of Intent program and more than 500 institutions participate. All NCAA Division I institutions, with the exception of those in the Ivy League, which does not award athletic scholarships, the Service Academies and some schools in the Patriot League, are members of the program. Additionally, all fully active Division II institutions are members. No Division III institutions, NAIA programs, preparatory schools, junior colleges or community colleges are members of the National Letter of Intent program. All members of the NLI program are required to offer athletics scholarships. For a list of member institutions, please see the searchable list of Member Schools.

Joining the National Letter of Intent program is easy. If a NCAA Division I or Division II conference would like to participate, the conference commissioner should notify the National Letter of Intent program, in writing, of the conference's desire to join and include a listing of the member schools. Each member school is then required to complete and file with its conference office a National Letter of Intent Institutional Commitment Form, thereby agreeing to abide by the provisions and rules of the NLI program.

If an institution wishes to participate in the National Letter of Intent program independent of its conference, the institution must first find a NLI member conference to administer the National Letter of Intent on its behalf. Once the institution secures a sponsoring conference, the institution and conference should notify the NLI program, in writing, that the institution desires to join the program.

NLI program membership is addressed on an annual basis coinciding with the traditional academic year. Accordingly, while a request for membership can be submitted at any time, no new member will be allowed to participate in the program once signing has started for the academic year.

Once a conference becomes a member of the National Letter of Intent program, its participating institutions are given access to the National Letter of Intent via the Internet. While participating institutions are responsible for the actual preparation and dissemination of the National Letter of Intent, the conference office is responsible for ensuring the National Letter of Intent is executed in compliance with National Letter of Intent provisions, is valid and is filed within 21 days of final signature. The conference office is responsible for providing the National Letter of Intent office with a list of student-athletes who have signed a valid National Letter of Intent with one of its member schools.

The current National Letter of Intent fee structure, as determined by the Collegiate Commissioners Association, is as follows:

Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A)	$275.00 per institution
Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-AA)	$200.00 per institution
Division I (Division I-AAA)	$150.00 per institution
Division II	$75.00 per institution