NCAA Division III

Sports Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the United States. The division consists of colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletically related financial aid (athletic scholarships) to their student-athletes.

As explained in more detail in the article about NCAA Division II, the NCAA's first split was into two divisions. The former College Division formed because many NCAA member schools wanted an alternative to the expensive nature of what is now Division I. Division III formed in 1973, in a split of the College Division. The former College Division members that chose to offer athletic scholarships or to remain in a division with those who did became Division II, while members that did not became Division III.

Division III is the NCAA’s largest division (approximately 40% of total membership) with 438 active member institutions (450 both full and provisional). Of the member institutions, 81% are private, while only 19% are public. Division III schools range in size from a minimum undergraduate enrollment of 348 to a maximum of 21,247, but the average enrollment is 2,717.

Division III institutions have 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. There are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Division III athletic programs are non-revenue-generating, extracurricular programs that are staffed and funded like any other university department. Hence, they feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability (i.e., no athletic scholarships). Student athletes also cannot redshirt as freshmen, and schools may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose is to benefit athletic programs.

Division III schools "shall not award financial aid to any student on the basis of athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance". Financial aid given to athletes must be awarded under the same procedures as for the general student body, and the proportion of total financial aid given to athletes "shall be closely equivalent to the percentage of student-athletes within the student body." The ban on scholarships is strictly enforced. As an example of how seriously the NCAA takes this rule, in 2005 MacMurray College became only the fifth school slapped with a "death penalty" after its men's tennis program gave grants to foreign-born players. The two service academies that are D-III members, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard, are technically subject to the scholarship ban, but are effectively exempt because all students at these institutions, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive full scholarships paid for by the U.S. government.

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