College Sports

It's recommended that students register for the NCAA, NAIA, or NJCAA during junior year.

NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a non-profit organization which manages the athletic program of more than 1,100 colleges and universities. The NCAA’s goal is dedicated to the success of the student-athlete, both on and off the field. The NCAA consists mostly of colleges and universities, but also of conferences and sports organizations that work together in order to create the framework of rules that guides the competition.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is divided in three divisions, each of them with its own rules: NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III.

The NCAA is the American most important institution in its field, nevertheless, there are more organizations out there like the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics), or the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association).

NAIA

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) manages intercollegiate athletic programs, mainly across the United States, but also outside the U.S. like some Canadian athletic programs.

More than 65,000 student-athletes have the opportunity each year to compete at NAIA institutions. NAIA manages 25 national championships, and is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.

The NAIA it’s composed of more than 250 colleges and universities and 21 conferences. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is a smaller association than the NCAA. The NAIA has two divisions while the NCAA has 3. Usually, the NAIA Division I is comparable to NCAA Division II.

NJCAA

The National Junior College Association manages the athletic departments of community colleges and junior colleges. The mission of the NJCAA is to promote two-year college athletics.

It was founded in 1938 in Fresno, California, and since then the association has helped thousands of students to compete and get an education in the United States. The NJCAA is divided into 24 different regions, and three divisions, and It’s headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Colleges that belong to the National Junior College Association choose to compete in one of the three divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III. The most important difference between the divisions, are the Scholarships available. While in NJCAA Div I you can get a full athletic Scholarship, Div III may not provide athletic Scholarship.

In NJCAA, students can compete two seasons in one sport. One of the requisites to be able to compete is that the student must maintain a full-time status during that year.