Athletes who earn scholarships and awards apart from their athletics grants-in-aid can keep them as long as their total financial aid is no more than their college's total cost of attendance, according to a rule approved Tuesday by a top governing board of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The Division I Management Council had considered a plan that would have allowed athletics departments themselves to give players scholarships worth the full cost of attendance. However, the proposal ran into protests from smaller colleges that said the move would be prohibitively expensive. The measure passed Tuesday was seen as a compromise that would make it permissible for athletes to keep money from National Merit scholarships and other kinds of awards.

A college's "full cost of attendance" varies widely based on the kind of institution it is and where it is located, but generally includes travel costs to and from college, money for incidental needs, and other personal expenses.

"What this does is bring student-athletes up to the same level as the general student body," said Myles Brand, the NCAA's president. "What has been denied [under current policy] is the student-athlete being able to get funds up to the full cost of attendance, which other students on full scholarship have been able to receive."

The Management Council, meeting in Indianapolis, also approved plans to prohibit teams from playing exhibition games against noncollegiate opponents, such as those sponsored by shoe companies, and a proposal to expand athletes' health benefits to cover practices outside the regular season.

All of the group's decisions are subject to the approval of the Division I Board of Directors, which is scheduled to meet next week, also in Indianapolis.

Both groups are being briefed by an NCAA committee that has proposed changes to the often-lavish recruiting process for big-time athletes (see an article in the current issue of The Chronicle).

Mr. Brand said the governing bodies would vote on final versions of the new rules this summer, so the guidelines would be in place for high-school seniors this fall.