Short version: Usually both apply. Your school's policy sits on top of your state's law, in the room the law leaves it. Where the law says a school may not do something, a policy can't change that, and the law gives you a way to court.
Most of the time the two don't fight. They stack. The state's law is the bottom layer. The school's policy sits on top of it. For a Division I athlete, the NCAA's reporting rule runs across both.
So "which one applies" usually has the answer "all of them, at once." The useful question is what each layer is allowed to say. The law itself answers that, line by line, with three small words: may, shall and may not.
We'll use two states with very different texts, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and one school in each.
Where the law leaves room, the policy fills it
Pennsylvania's college law says an athlete "may disclose the contents of the contract prior to execution" to an official the school names. May, which means it's your choice under state law.
The next line gives the school room. A school "may have policies that specify when the contract should be disclosed" and what to disclose. So the statute makes telling the school optional, and also lets the school write its own timing rules.
Penn State's 2026-27 handbook says NIL employment "should be disclosed through the NIL GO platform in accordance with NCAA and CSC rules." It adds that a failure to disclose "may have a negative impact on your athletics eligibility."
Penn State's agent policy goes further for one kind of contract. Any contract a current athlete signs with an agent "must be disclosed by the student-athlete or agent to the Athletics Compliance Office prior to execution."
Those don't contradict the state's law. The law says you may tell the school. The policy, and the NCAA, ask you to. Both apply.
Pennsylvania's law also says it doesn't limit a school's right to set academic standards, team rules of conduct, or rules for taking part in its athletics. Team rules keep running alongside it.
The law says you may tell the school. The policy asks you to. Both apply.
Where the law hands the school a choice
Ohio's law works differently on banned deals. It lists categories a school "may prohibit": controlled substances, marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, vaping and nicotine; licensed marijuana businesses; adult entertainment; and casinos or gambling sponsors.
A fifth line lets the school add similar categories, as long as it tells the athlete before they enroll. The statute doesn't ban any of these for every Ohio athlete. It hands each school the pen.
Ohio State's guidelines use it. For alcohol, their list names "distilled spirits (i.e., hard liquor)." It also names tobacco and nicotine, gambling, controlled substances, marijuana and adult entertainment, and keeps the right to add similar categories before you enroll.
Pennsylvania doesn't leave that choice to the school. Its law itself bars NIL pay tied to six categories, alcohol among them, for every college athlete in the state. A school may also bar deals that clash with its sponsorships or "institutional values."
So the same alcohol question gets its answer from a different place in each state. In Pennsylvania, the statute answers it. In Ohio, the statute lets the school decide, so the answer sits in the school's own list.
Sponsor conflicts work much the same in both. Ohio's law has the school review a proposed deal. If it clashes with a contract the school has signed, the school names the clash, and the athlete may negotiate a revision.
Where the law says a school may not
Some lines in these laws aren't the school's to change. Ohio's law says no school may "enter into, renew, or modify any agreement" that bars an athlete from earning NIL pay outside academic, athletic department or official team activities.
It also says a school's contract with an athlete "shall not prevent" commercial use of the athlete's name when they aren't in official team activities. And earning NIL pay "shall not affect" scholarship eligibility or renewal.
Pennsylvania's version is shorter. A school "may not uphold a rule, requirement, standard or other limitation" that keeps an athlete from earning NIL pay. Its scholarship section says NIL pay may not affect a scholarship's eligibility, duration or renewal.
A policy can't write its way around those lines. When a school rule and one of them truly clash, both laws point to a court, not to the compliance office.
In Ohio, an athlete who says a school broke the law may ask a court for injunctive relief, which means an order to stop.
In Pennsylvania, an athlete may bring a private civil action. The court awards costs and reasonable attorney fees to an athlete who wins.
Ohio's law also says a school may set "reasonable policies or standards" for an athlete who doesn't make the disclosure the law requires. So the law protects the deal and also lets the school enforce the law's own rules.
The layer that runs across both
For Division I, the NCAA's rule sits over the top. Bylaw 22.2.2 has an athlete report third-party deals of $600 or more to the NIL clearinghouse, NIL Go. Bylaw 22.2.2.2 sets the window at five business days.
Both states' laws also limit what the NCAA and conferences may do to a school or an athlete over NIL pay the state law allows.
A federal bill, the Protect College Sports Act, passed the Senate 77 to 22 on September 28. It would override much of this state-by-state picture if it became law. The House hasn't voted.
Where each layer is written
Each state's college law is on our map, read from the legislature's own text, and each school's published policy is on its own page. Compare two puts any two side by side and marks each row SAME or DIFFERS.
Ohio and Pennsylvania side by side show it fast. Both laws are in force. The disclosure rows differ: Ohio has you disclose a proposed deal before you enter it, and Pennsylvania says you may.
What Leave does with this
In Leave, every deal thread carries a rules summary for your state and your level, next to the contract, its dates and the disclosure deadline that applies. It's a summary, not a ruling. Your school and your state's law decide.
Upload the contract and Leave reads it back in plain words, with the clauses labelled. Leave takes 0 percent of any deal. You decide what to sign.
Questions people ask
Can my school ask me to report a deal when my state's law doesn't?
In Pennsylvania the law says an athlete "may" disclose a contract and lets the school have policies on when and what. Penn State's 2026-27 handbook sends NIL deals to NIL Go. Division I rules separately have deals of $600 or more reported within five business days.
Can a school policy bar a deal my state's law allows?
It depends on what the law hands the school. Ohio's law lets a school bar listed categories, such as alcohol, tobacco and gambling, and similar ones it names before you enroll. Pennsylvania lets a school bar deals that conflict with its sponsorships or its values.
What happens if a school's rule breaks the state law?
Both laws give the athlete a way to court. Ohio's lets an athlete seek injunctive relief, a court order to stop. Pennsylvania's allows a private civil action, and the court awards costs and reasonable attorney fees to an athlete who wins.
Be your own agent. Leave.