Wikipedia:

Division III

This article is about the NCAA division. For the Swedish football league, see Division 3.

Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States.

Membership

The division consists of colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletically related financial aid (athletic scholarships) to their student-athletes. There are over 420 member institutions, making Division III (D-III) the largest of the three divisions sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

D-III schools range in size from less than 500 to over 10,000 students. D-III schools compete in athletics as a non-revenue making, extracurricular activity for students; hence, they may not offer athletic scholarships, they may not redshirt freshmen and they may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose is to benefit their athletic programs.

Conferences competing in Division III

Division III schools with Division I programs

Nine D-III schools have traditionally competed at the highest level of a particular sport and since the 1960s, when the NCAA separated into divisions, these schools' Division I programs have been allowed to continue as such while the remainder of their athletic program remains at Division III. They are:

No other Division III school may also elevate individual sports programs to a higher level, and the above schools are limited to competing in D-I in those programs they traditionally have done so in. Rochester Institute of Technology and Rutgers-Newark, which currently do not offer a women's sport at the D-I level, may choose to elevate a single women's program in the future if necessary for gender equity.

Football and basketball may not be grandfathered Division I programs because their revenue-enhancing potential would give them an unfair advantage over other Division III schools. In 1982, several Division III schools who competed at the Division I level in basketball, most notably Georgetown University, were forced to upgrade the rest of their athletic program to a Division I level.

Recent changes

In 2003, concerned about the direction of the Division, the Division III Presidents' Council, led by Middlebury College President John McCardell, acted to limit the length of the traditional and non-traditional seasons, eliminate redshirting, and redefine a season of participation, all of which were approved by a majority vote of the membership.

An additional proposal which would have eliminated the ability of the institutions listed above to offer athletic scholarships was rejected, though rules limiting the exception to only those schools currently offering D-I programs was approved. These actions took place at the January 2004 NCAA Convention.

See also

External links

NCAA official website
NCAA official sports website
D3football.com, covers Division III football
D3hoops.com, covers Division III men's and women's basketball
D3baseball.com, covers Division III baseball
D3Kicks.com, covers Division III soccer


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