Division II

The emphasis for your experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal setting. The Division II approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level competition and development of positive societal attitudes in service to community. The balance and integration of these different areas of learning opportunity provide Division II student-athletes with a path to graduation while cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.

Each Division II school has a maximum amount of financial aid awards for each sport that it must not exceed. Few Division II student-athletes receive full scholarships, so most of them pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II sports are financed by the institution's budget like other academic departments on campus.

A Division II classification in athletics is also based on the number of sponsored sports for men and women. Each institution 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. While traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs, football and basketball share contest and participation minimums and scheduling criteria, with 50 percent of their games against Division II or Division I FBS or Division I FCS opponents. Other sports, however, have no scheduling requirements and no Division II sports have any type of attendance requirements.