List of NCAA Divisions II & III schools competing in NCAA Division I sports

Source:^[1]

The main reason for Divisions II and III schools to be competing in Division I is that certain sports have either only a single division or only Divisions I and III. As a result of this, there are some DII and III conferences with a conference championship in a sport that has only one or two NCAA divisions (i.e. bowling, men's volleyball).

Some schools, however, have opted to compete in a sport at a higher level and are allowed to do so by the NCAA under certain circumstances. First, schools in Divisions II and III are allowed to classify one men's sport and one women's sport as Division I (except for football and basketball), provided that they were sponsoring said sports at Division I level prior to 2011. In addition to this, a lower-division school may compete as a Division I member in a given sport if the NCAA does not sponsor a championship in that sport for the school's own division. Division II schools may award scholarships and operate under Division I rules in their Division I sports. Division III schools cannot award scholarships in their Division I sports (except as noted below), but can operate under most Division I rules in those sports.

While many of the lower division schools playing with the "big schools" are frequently heavily outclassed, others not only compete successfully, but are among the elite programs in their sport (i.e. Alaska-Fairbanks in rifle, Johns Hopkins in men's lacrosse, Minnesota-Duluth in both men's and women's ice hockey).

Six Division III members are allowed to award athletic scholarships in their Division I sports—a practice otherwise not allowed for Division III schools. All of these schools sponsored a men's sport in the NCAA University Division, the predecessor to today's Division I, before the NCAA adopted its current three-division setup in 1974–75. At that time, the NCAA did not sponsor championships in women's sports. Today, these schools, often called "grandfathered", are allowed to award scholarships in the one originally grandfathered sport, plus one women's sport.

Notes

• Under current NCAA rules, beach volleyball, and bowling are women's sports; wrestling is a men's sport; rifle is technically a men's sport, but schools can field men's, women's, and/or mixed teams; fencing and skiing are coed sports with teams having men's and women's squads.
• Future conference affiliations indicated in this article will take effect on July 1 of the stated year. In the case of spring sports, the first year of competition will take place in the calendar year after the conference move becomes official.

D-II

D-III

Grandfathered schools, with their scholarship sports, are indicated in bold type.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I institutions
• List of NCAA Division II institutions
• List of NCAA Division III institutions

References

National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA	Awards Hall of Champions Conferences
Division I sports and championships	Institutions Athletic directors Baseball Championship CWS Basketball Men Women Cross Country Men Women Field hockey Championship Football FBS FCS Golf Men Women Gymnastics Men Women Ice hockey Men Women Lacrosse Men Women Rowing Women Soccer Men Women Softball Championship CWS Swimming & Diving Men Women Tennis Men Women Track and Field Men's indoor and outdoor Women's indoor and outdoor Volleyball Men Women Wrestling Championship
Division II	Institutions Baseball Championship/CWS Basketball Men Women Cross Country Men Women Field hockey Championship Football Championship Golf Men Women Ice hockey Men Lacrosse Men Women Rowing Women Soccer Men Women Softball Championship/WCWS Swimming & Diving Men Women Tennis Men Women Track and Field Men's indoor and outdoor Women's indoor and outdoor Volleyball Women Wrestling Championship
Division III	Institutions Baseball Championship/CWS Basketball Men Women Cross Country Men Women Field hockey Championship Football Championship Golf Men Women Ice hockey Men Women Lacrosse Men Women Rowing Women Soccer Men Women Softball Championship/WCWS Swimming & Diving Men Women Tennis Men Women Track and Field Men's indoor and outdoor Women's indoor and outdoor Volleyball Men Women Wrestling Championship
Single-division sports and championships	Beach volleyball Women Bowling Women Boxing Championship Fencing Championships Gymnastics Men Women Men–DII Women–DII Rifle Championship Skiing Championships Trampoline Championship Water polo Men Women
Events listed in italics have been discontinued.