The NCAA Division I council agreed Wednesday to push back the date when men's basketball players must remove their names from the NBA draft until late May.
The decision goes into effect this year.
The rule change reverses a 2009 decision that had moved the date to the day before the spring signing period in early April.
The change will allow the players more time to gather information before making a decision. It also will allow many of them to participate in the NBA draft combine.
Though the rule change will make roster planning more difficult for coaches who will have to wait until as late as May to know whether their top players are returning to school, support enabled the proposal to go forth.
"The cooperation between the NCAA, NBA and NABC was vital to the success of this idea," UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said. "We reached an excellent outcome that will undoubtedly benefit every group involved, most importantly the student-athlete."
The council also voted that players will be allowed to enter or remove their names from the NBA draft multiple times without jeopardizing their eligibility and also will be allowed to participate in the NBA draft combine and one NBA team tryout per year.
The current rule stated that players were only allowed to declare for the NBA draft once while maintaining their college eligibility.
NCAA spokesman David Worlock confirmed the changes to ESPN.
College coaches pushed for the rule change in 2009 in order to know which of their players were leaving early for the NBA. However, the change put the players at a disadvantage without having nearly as much information before having to make a decision.
The date of this year's NBA draft combine in Chicago is May 11-15, which would put the date to withdraw on May 25.