does the NCAA make any exceptions for eligibility?

You will eligibility at a NCAA Division II school for sure.

If you want to run DI it is irrelevant to the NCAA that you attended a Comm. College. That never started your "5 year clock." The real question is how old you are. For ever year that you are 21 or over, you lose a year of eligibility. Thus, if you will be 24 next fall, you are s*** out of luck. There are very, very few times where the NCAA will make an exception to the 5 year rule (at least regarding Track and XC). Those include religious or military obligations, and I believe a hardship waiver (your family gets eaten by a pack of hungry wolves during your senior year, and you miss the season due to their funerals and subsequent emotional termoil...you get the idea). Under normal circumstances (simply not attending a 4 year college yet), you won't find an exception. I know rules in DII and DIII are less restrictive, though I wouldn't know them very well.

Pre Officer does not know what he is talking about. You start your five year clock once you enroll in full time academic studies. That includes JUCO.

You only use a year of eligibility after the age of 21 if you compete in your sport during one or more of those years. That is a little known fact so anyone who does not really know the rules would not know that fact.

You have, from the sounds of things, one year of Division I eligibility as long as you have 48 tranferrable credit hours and 25% (you would fall under the old rules of 25-50-75) of your degree at the Division I school completed and have earned the AA Degree. Or, you could go to Division II or III where the ten semesters of eligibility do not have to be consecutive. In that case, you have, from the counds of things, 6 semesters of full-time enrollment to continue your athletic career. No age limit in Division II.

Those are the real rules.