There are 304 American, Canadian, and Puerto Rican colleges and universities classified as Division II for NCAA competition during the 2023–24 academic year, including eleven schools that are in the process of reclassifying to Division II. Forty-four of the 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Canadian province of British Columbia are represented. Arizona, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Wyoming do not currently have D-II institutions.
Division II institutions
Full members
- Notes
- ↑ The school does not sponsor women's basketball.
- ↑ Lincoln University's mailing address is located in the census-designated place of Lincoln University, approximately 4 miles northeast of the nearest borough of Oxford.
- ↑ Maryville's primary campus is located in Town and Country, but its mailing address is St. Louis.
- ↑ Men's only institution in undergraduate programs, therefore it does not compete in women's sports.
- ↑ Roberts Wesleyan's campus is located in North Chili, but its mailing address is Rochester.
- ↑ Saint Rose will close its doors following the 2023-24 athletics season.[2]
- ↑ The college's athletic facilities are spread across the campus, which is split between Manchester and Hooksett.
- ↑ Despite the fact the school accepts male students, only women's sports are sponsored by the school.
- ↑ Women's only institution in undergraduate programs, therefore it does not compete in men's sports.
- ↑ West Georgia to reclassify to Division I after the 2023–24 academic year, joining the ASUN Conference.
Reclassifying to Division II
The reclassification process from one NCAA division to another requires three to five years, except for moves to Division II. Moves from Division III or another national governing body (such as the NAIA) to Division II require three years, and moves from Division I to II require two years.
Reclassifying from Division II
The following programs are reclassifying away from NCAA Division II, or have announced definitive plans to do so. Under current NCAA rules, they must have an invitation from a conference to begin the transition to Division I. During the four-year transition period, they are ineligible for the Division I playoffs.
- ↑ While Bellarmine remains non-football by NCAA criteria, it began playing sprint football, a weight-restricted form of American football governed outside the NCAA, in 2022.
- ↑ Le Moyne has a Syracuse mailing address, but its campus is located almost entirely within the adjacent town of DeWitt.
- ↑ While Southern Indiana has an Evansville mailing address, it is actually located outside of the Evansville city limits in Perry Township, a subdivision of Vanderburgh County that includes a small part of Evansville proper.
Pending
These schools are actively pursuing Division II membership. Schools wishing to move within the NCAA to Division II must apply no later than February 1 of a given year, with the NCAA making its decision that July.
| School | Nickname | City | State/ province |
Enrollment | Conference | Current affiliation | Applying |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California, Merced[25] | Golden Bobcats | Merced | CA | 9,104 | California Collegiate Athletic Association | CalPac (NAIA) | 2024 |
| University of Jamestown[26] | Jimmies | Jamestown | ND | 1,521 | Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference | GPAC (NAIA) | |
| Point Park University[27] | Pioneers | Pittsburgh | PA | 3,378 | Mountain East Conference | RSC (NAIA) | |
| University of Texas at Dallas[28] | Comets | Richardson | TX | 31,570[29] | Lone Star Conference | ASC (D-III) | |
| Middle Georgia State University[30] | Knights | Cochran[lower-alpha 1] | GA | 7,688 | Peach Belt Conference | SSAC (NAIA) | 2025 |
Sports not in D-II
The NCAA does not conduct separate Division II championships in the following sports:
- Men: Gymnastics, ice hockey, volleyball, water polo (note, however, that no Division II member currently sponsors men's gymnastics)
- Women: Bowling, gymnastics, ice hockey, water polo
- Coeducational: Fencing, rifle, skiing
Some schools have opted to compete in a sport at a higher level and are allowed to do so by the NCAA under certain circumstances. First, when the NCAA placed severe restrictions on the fielding of Division I teams by Division II institutions in 2011, it grandfathered in all then-current D-I teams at D-II schools. Apart from this, Division II members are allowed to compete for Division I championships in sports in which a Division II national championship is not contested.
In some sports, the NCAA only sponsors championships open to all member schools regardless of division, with examples including beach volleyball, fencing, rifle, and water polo. In men's and women's ice hockey and men's volleyball, the NCAA holds Division III championships, but does not hold a separate D-II championship. The NCAA officially classifies all championship events that are open to schools from more than one division as "National Collegiate", except in men's ice hockey, in which the top-level championship is styled as a Division I championship (presumably due to the past existence of a Division II championship in that sport). Division II members are allowed to compete for National Collegiate championships as well as the Division I men's ice hockey championship; in all such sports, they are allowed to operate under the same rules and scholarship restrictions that apply to full Division I members in that sport.
The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) sponsors men's ice hockey for its members who choose to remain in D-II, including a postseason tournament.
Several NE-10 members that sponsored women’s ice hockey also competed in the ECAC Women’s East and pursued the ECAC Open title, a women's ice hockey postseason tournament for those teams remaining in D-II but competing as independents during the regular season, but that tournament has been superseded by the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA), which began play in 2017 as a scheduling agreement between all of the existing women's National Collegiate independents (including full D-I member Sacred Heart), organized as a full conference in 2018, and received official NCAA recognition in 2019.
Because the NE-10 is the sole Division II hockey league, its postseason champion cannot compete for the NCAA national hockey championship. The Post University men's team competes as D-II as a single-sport NE-10 member, while its women's team is a member of the NEWHA.
- Future conference affiliations indicated in this list 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.
Probation
The following is a list of Division II institutions currently on probation by the NCAA in one or more sports. Probation decisions are made by the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Committee on Infractions.
| Institution | Sport(s) | Expiration Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Erie College | Men's and women's track and field | February 1, 2024[31] |
| University of Indianapolis | Men's and women's swimming and diving | February 27, 2024[32] |
| Bluefield State University[lower-alpha 1] | Eight sports[lower-alpha 2] | November 10, 2024[33] |
| West Chester University of Pennsylvania | Men's and women's swimming and diving | December 8, 2024[34] |
| University of Alaska Fairbanks | Nine sports[lower-alpha 3] | March 17, 2025[35] |
| Kentucky State University | Football | May 8, 2025[36] |
| Augusta University | Men's basketball | June 1, 2025[37] |
| Lewis University | Men's and women's tennis | August 22, 2025[38] |
| Missouri Southern State University | Football | November 2, 2025[39] |
| Shaw University | Men's basketball | July 12, 2026[40] |
- ↑ Known as Bluefield State College before July 1, 2022.
- ↑ Baseball, men's basketball, women's cross country, men's golf, softball, and women's volleyball were specifically mentioned in the NCAA infractions decision.
- ↑ Sports specifically mentioned in the NCAA infractions decision were men's basketball, men's cross country, men's ice hockey (competing in Division I), rifle (a non-divisional sport), and skiing (also non-divisional).
See also
- List of NCAA Division II football programs
- List of NCAA Division II baseball programs
- List of NCAA Division II lacrosse programs
- List of NCAA Division II men's soccer programs
- List of NCAA Division II women's soccer programs
- List of NCAA Division II wrestling programs
- List of NCAA Division I institutions
- List of NCAA Division III institutions
- List of NAIA institutions
- List of USCAA institutions
- List of NCCAA institutions
- List of NCAA Divisions II and III schools competing in NCAA Division I sports
References
- ↑ "Division II Members". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
- ↑ Moore, Kathleen. "College of Saint Rose board votes to close school". www.timesunion.com. Albany Times Union. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ↑ Brown, Mitchell (July 15, 2020). "Allen University makes the jump from NAIA to NCAA Division II". Columbia, SC: WACH. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
- ↑ "Edward Waters University (EWU) Earns NCAA Membership: Becomes Florida's Only NCAA Division II HBCU Member Institution". Edward Waters University. July 19, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ↑ "E&H ATHLETICS: Moving up and out; Emory & Henry College to join NCAA Division-II South Atlantic Conference, leaving D-III and the ODAC". Bristol Herald Courier. November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
- ↑ "NCAA Announces Jessup's Acceptance into NCAA Division II". Jessup Warriors (Press release). July 13, 2023.
- ↑ "Menlo College Athletics Accepted Into NCAA Division II". Menlo Oaks (Press release). July 13, 2023.
- ↑ Roosevelt University approved as provisional member of the GLIAC - GLIAC
- ↑ "Peach Belt Accepts USCB as Newest League Member". University of South Carolina Beaufort Athletics. April 14, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
- ↑ "SRSU applies to move to NCAA Division II" (Press release). Sul Ross State University. January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
- ↑ "Thomas More University Unanimously Approved for Provisional Membership to Join Great Midwest". August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ↑ "VANGUARD UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS ANNOUNCES ACCEPTANCE AS PROVISIONAL MEMBER OF THE NCAA DIVISION II". Vanguard Athletics. July 13, 2023.
- ↑ "Staten Island, Frostburg State to become DII members". NCAA. July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
- ↑ "ASUN Conference Welcomes Bellarmine University". July 1, 2020.
- ↑ "LE MOYNE COLLEGE MAKES MOVE TO DIVISION I: ACCEPTS INVITATION TO JOIN NORTHEAST CONFERENCE". Le Moyne College Athletics. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ↑ "Lindenwood University to Join the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022-23". OVC Sports. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Queens University of Charlotte accepts invitation to NCAA Division I conference". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
- ↑ "Stonehill College Accepts Invitation to Join Northeast Conference". Northeast Conference. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Tarleton accepts WAC invitation, moves to NCAA Division I". Tarleton State University. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Texas A&M University-Commerce Accepts Invitation to Southland Conference". Texas A&M University-Commerce. September 30, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "UC San Diego Formally Joins Big West as Part of Transition to Division I". UC San Diego. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Southern Indiana joining OVC". Indiana News Journal. February 9, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "It's Official – Dixie State Joins the WAC and Begins NCAA D-I Transition". Dixie State University Athletics. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "UWG Athletics to Transition to NCAA Division I". West Georgia Athletics. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ↑ "California Collegiate Athletic Association Set to Add University of California, Merced" (Press release). University of California, Merced. November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ↑ "NSIC Extends Invitation to the University of Jamestown". Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (Press release). November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
- ↑ "Mountain East Conference Extends Invitation to Point Park University". mountaineast.org. 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
- ↑ "UT Dallas Accepts Invitation to Join Lone Star Conference" (Press release). UT Dallas Comets. July 19, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ↑ "UT Dallas State of the University 2022" (PDF). UT Dallas. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
- ↑ "Peach Belt Extends Invitation To Middle Georgia State University For Conference Membership" (Press release). Peach Belt Conference. January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
- ↑ "Negotiated Resolution: Lake Erie College" (PDF). NCAA. February 2, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ↑ "Negotiated Resolution: University of Indianapolis" (PDF). NCAA. February 28, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ↑ "Bluefield State College Public Infractions Decision" (PDF). NCAA. November 11, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
- ↑ "Negotiated Resolution: West Chester University of Pennsylvania" (PDF). NCAA. December 9, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ↑ "Negotiated Resolution: University of Alaska Fairbanks" (PDF). NCAA. March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ↑ "Negotiated Resolution: Kentucky State University" (PDF). NCAA. May 9, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ↑ "Augusta University Public Infractions Decision" (PDF). NCAA. June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ↑ "Lewis University Public Infractions Decision" (PDF). NCAA. August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Missouri Southern State University Public Infractions Decision" (PDF). NCAA. December 9, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ↑ "Shaw University Public Infractions Decision" (PDF). NCAA. July 13, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
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