Collegiate Athletics

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a member-led organization dedicated to the well-being and lifelong success of college athletes. NCAA schools award nearly $3.5 billion in athletics scholarships every year and provide vast support to help student-athletes graduate at a rate higher than their general student peers.  

More than 500,000 college athletes across all three divisions compete for about 1,100 member schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and even Canada. Regardless of where they start, student-athletes strive to end each season at one of the NCAA’s 90 championships in 24 sports.

Check out NCAA’s Initial Eligibility Standards Brochure and NCAA’s Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete to get started.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to their student athletes. Around $1.3 billion in athletic scholarship financial aid is awarded to student athletes annually.

For the 2023–24 season, it had 241 member institutions, of which two are in British Columbia, one in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the rest in the continental United States, with over 83,000 student-athletes participating.

Check out NAIA’s Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete and NAIA’s High School Student-Athlete’s site for more information about their program and how to get started.

The National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) is the national governing body of two-year collegiate athletics and continues to be the leader in championing academic and athletic opportunities for student-athletes.  The organization is the second-largest national intercollegiate athletic organization in the United States (second to the NCAA) with over 500 member colleges in 44 states.  

Each year, nearly 70,000 student-athletes compete in one of 28 different sports, with the organization sponsoring 53 national championship events plus sanctioned football bowl games.

Check out NJCAA’s Prospective Student-Athletes site and NJCAA’s Eligibility Requirements site for more information about their program and how to get started.