Skip to main content

DI vs. DII vs. DIII: The Differences




Do you want to continue your academic and athletic career at the NCAA level?  Before you go making any decisions you should know what is the difference between NCAA Division I, II, and III.  The myth is that the best players play Division I, the next best play Division II, and so forth.  That is not always the case.  There are DIII players that have the ability to play Division I but they chose DIII to focus on their academics or have a more balanced college experience.  The Student-Athlete experience is different for each level.   

What makes a NCAA Division I School a Division I Member?

Division I member institutions have to sponsor at least seven sports for men and seven for women (or six for men and eight for women) with two team sports for each gender. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. Schools that have football are classified as Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) or NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Football Bowl Subdivision schools are usually fairly elaborate programs. Football Bowl Subdivision teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements (average 15,000 people in actual or paid attendance per home game), which must be met once in a rolling two-year period. NCAA Football Championship Subdivision teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements.  Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, and there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division I school cannot exceed.

There are 351 Division I  Institutions 

What makes a NCAA Division II School a Division II Member?

Division II institutions have to 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. There are not attendance requirements for football, or arena game requirements for basketball. There are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division II school must not exceed. Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes. Many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II athletics programs are financed in the institution's budget like other academic departments on campus. Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.

There are 306 Division II Institutions 

What makes a NCAA Division III School a Division III Member?

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.  Division III athletics features student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability and athletic departments are staffed and funded like any other department in the university. Division III athletics departments place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators. The student-athlete's experience is of paramount concern. Division III athletics encourages participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities available to students, placing primary emphasis on regional in-season and conference competition.
There are 451 Division III Institutions.

The NCAA puts substantially more money towards Division I programs than it does Division III. Sixty percent of all NCAA revenue is given directly to Division I institutions alone. From 2009–2010, $433 million made up the NCAA's Division I expenses. Only about three percent of the NCAA’s spending goes towards Division III programs.  

Athletic Financial Aid

First and foremost, the biggest difference between DI and DII  vs. DIII schools is the ability to provide student-athletes athletic based financial aid. Division I and Division II institutions can offer prospective student-athlete’s athletic scholarships.  A Division III institution is prohibited from offering athletic aid to students solely based on athletic ability.  Many DIII programs offer Merit Scholarships which are a combination of academic, extracurricular, and financial need to create one financial package.   

  • Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletic programs.  Each NCAA sponsored sport has a maximum number of scholarships it may offer. 
  • Division II schools have the ability to offer athletic scholarships.  There are no minimum requirements, the number of scholarships offered for each sport is at the discretion of the Institution.  There are maximum number of scholarships that may be offered for each sport. 

Operating Budgets

The way athletic programs are funded are vastly different across the three divisions.  In division I there is even a major difference in how some programs are funded.  There are three different segments at the Division I level

  • Football Bowl Subdivision (Formerly I-A) - 125 Schools
  • Football Championship Sub-Division (Formerly II-A) - 124 Schools
  • Non Football Schools (Formerly III-A) - 99 Schools
The Football Subdivision Schools which is made up of mostly the Power 5 Conferences use their football and basketball programs to fund their Non-Revenue sports. 

Academic Support / Academics

In Division I, it is common to provide special academic support for student-athletes to help them balance the academic and athletics demands.  This can include tutors, facilities, staff who work with faculty to facilitate the athletes' experiences, and/or athletics department advising on course selections. While some Division I coaches do encourage athletes to work hard in athletics, this is not guaranteed, and a threat of withdrawal of financial support is a possibility if coaches feel that an athlete is making "unnecessary" academic efforts that conflict with athletic development. In Division III, athletes are expected to attend to academic responsibilities under the same conditions as the general student body, and are generally expected to be responsible students whose academic performance reflects well on the athletics program. The hours spent in training and competition use time that other students spend on study. This puts the athlete at an academic disadvantage. This means athletics actually makes school more difficult for Division III athletes, rather than easier.

Playing and Practice Season / Time Commitment

NCAA regulations in competition and time commitment have made Division III athletics seem less strenuous and binding when compared to Division I and Division II athletics. Each sport is subject to different regulations, but when comparing the same sports in Division I and II to Division III competition, there are differences. For example, Division III baseball limits the number of games to 40 per season while Division I baseball sets the limit at 56 games per season. According to a 2008 NCAA survey, participants admitted devoting more time to athletics than they did towards academic responsibilities. This survey found that the average "major" Division I athlete devotes 44.8 hours a week to athletic responsibilities in addition to a little less than 40 hours a week set aside for academic life, and about two out of every three considered themselves athletes more than students.  This difference in time commitment can also be seen in the average number of classes missed. Twenty-one percent of Division I baseball players miss more than three classes per week compared to twelve percent of Division III baseball players.This pattern is similar in other sports as well according to the 2011 NCAA survey.

The Playing and Practice Season are broken down into two segments for all divisions of play.  There are certain time restrictions for each segment called Countable Athletic Related Activities or CARA.  CARA activities include any mandatory team events (e.g Practice, Lifting, Conditioning, and Film, etc)

  • Championship Season or Traditional 
  • Non Championship Season or Non-Traditional

The time commitment for a Division I, II, and III student-athlete is the same across the board in the Championship Season. 
  • Maximum 20 hours / week
  • Maximum 4 hours / day
  • 1 day off / week 
  • Competition = 3 hours
* * Travel to/from competition does not count toward CARA, however a travel day could be considered an off day if no other activities occurred.**

NCAA Division I Non-Championship Season
  • Maximum 8 hours / week 
  • Maximum 4 hours / day
  • 2 days off / week
  • 2 of the 8 hours can be skill instruction
  • Number of competitions vary by sport

NCAA Division II Non-Championship Season
  • Maximum 8 hours / week
  • Maximum 4 hours / day
  • 1 day off / week
  • 2 hours can be skill instruction
  • 1 day of competition 

NCAA Division III Non Championship Season 
  • Maximum of 5 weeks 
  • Maximum of 16 days of CARA
  • No more than 4 days in a week
  • Maximum of 4 hours / day
  • 1 day of competition

Lastly, the amount of media coverage and exposure NCAA Division I is far greater than DII and DIII schools especially with Football and Basketball.  Recently,  the Non-Revenue Sports have begun getting more media attention with the development of Conference Networks, like BIG10 Network, PAC12, etc)    

When you begin your college search keep your options open to all Divisions until you have a better idea of what kind of college experience you are looking for.  A great way to determine that is to research and visit schools from different divisions and different shapes and sizes. 

Want to learn more about the college recruiting process visit www.GuidingFutureStarsAcademy.com and grab your copy of the Designing Your Pathway to College Sports workbook to get started on your journey to play college sports.









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Habits of Highly Recruitable Student-Athletes

Do you want to continue your academic and athletic career in college? Do you think you have what it takes to be a college student-athlete? Playing in college goes well beyond your athletic abilities. Do you rest on your talents or are you willing to put in the time, effort, and energy to be the best you possibly can? Would you consider yourself lazy? Do you prioritize your academics? What kind of character do you have? Being recruited is about being a well-rounded individual. Taking the words from Shaquille O’Neal who borrowed them from Aristotle,  “Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.” Leaving athletic abilities and skills aside, what are the habits of a highly recruitable student-athlete? Stephen Covey, the world renown author developed the  7 Habits of Highly Effective People , I have created my own 7 Habits of Highly Recruitable Student-Athletes: Habit #1: Identify Goals We also call this habit “Discovering Your Why.” T...
Post a Comment
Read more

Attitude and Character Will Set You Apart

A recruits talent is obviously an important piece in a college coaches evaluation of any prospective student-athlete.  But the decision to actively recruit a student-athlete goes well beyond talent.   A prospective student-athlete's attitude and character may be the most important attribute to a college coach.   What Is Attitude? Attitude is how a student-athlete carries himself or herself on and off the field.  Regardless of a players' performance, their skill, tactical, and physical display, other factors heavily influence a coach's decision to recruit a given athlete.  Coaches will look at their mental and psychological make up, their mental ability to quickly and correctly read and assess situations, their motivational drive and will power, their self confidence, and emotional stability.   A big determining factor of a prospects attitude is their body language on the field.  A coach can get a good sense of who you are by how...
Post a Comment
Read more