Il uses the phrase “Life in the Balance” to distinguish itself from other divisions and adopted the mantra “Make it Yours” as a brand enhancement in 2015.
Division II schools operate on a partial scholarship model. More than 60% of the 125,000 Division II student-athletes receive some athletically related financial aid. Full athletic scholarships that cover all a college athlete's expenses are uncommon in the division. Often Division II athletes, like the rest of the student body, use a combination of academic grants, loans and employment earnings to fund their education.
Division II institutions must sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each gender and each playing season represented by each gender. Division II institutions usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes and traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.
Division III is the largest NCAA division with approximately 425 member institutions, 43 voting conferences and the greatest number of participants in the NCAA. On average, student-athletes comprise 20-25% of the student body at Division III institutions.
Division III consists of athletics programs at institutions that choose not to offer athletics scholarships to their student-athletes. They feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletics ability but are fully eligible to receive institutional aid in the form of grants and loans that are available to all students. Division III encourages participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities available to student-athletes, and institutions often sponsor many sports programs. The national average number of sports sponsored at the Division III level is 19.
Division III institutions are required to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. Primary emphasis is on regional in-season and conference competition.
Among the three NCAA divisions, Division I schools generally have the largest student bodies, manage the largest athletics budgets, and offer the most generous number of scholarships. The differences among the divisions emerge primarily in how schools choose to fund their athletics programs and in the national attention they command. There are currently 32 Division I conferences, and approximately 365 colleges and universities are classified as Division I for NCAA competition.
Division I is subdivided based on football sponsorship. The subdivisions apply only to football sponsorship; all other sports are simply considered to be Division I. Schools that participate in
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