National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that helps manage sports for students at about 1,100 schools in the United States and Canada. It works with colleges and supports more than 500,000 student athletes who play college sports every year. The main office of the NCAA is in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For a long time, the NCAA had just one group for all schools. But in 1956, it split into two groups. Then, in 1973, it made three groups called Division I, Division II, and Division III. Schools in Division I and II can give out awards for sports, but Division III schools cannot. Usually, bigger schools are in Division I, and smaller ones are in Divisions II and III.

In recent years, there have been changes to how student athletes can get support. In 2021, a big court said some of the NCAA's rules were not fair. Then, in May 2024, the NCAA agreed to let schools pay athletes who have played since 2016. The NCAA made a lot of money, about $1.28 billion, in the year 2022–23, mostly from showing the Division I men's basketball tournament.

History

Formation and early years

Intercollegiate sports began in the United States in 1852 when crews from Harvard and Yale universities met in a challenge race in the sport of rowing. As rowing remained the main sport in the country into the late-1800s, many of the early debates about collegiate athletic eligibility and purpose were settled through organizations like the Rowing Association of American Colleges and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. As other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a major sport, though its rules were in constant flux and often had to be adapted for each contest.

The NCAA dates its formation to two White House conferences convened by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century in response to repeated injuries and deaths in college football which had "prompted many college and universities to discontinue the sport." Following those White House meetings and the reforms which had resulted, Chancellor Henry MacCracken of New York University organized a meeting of 13 colleges and universities to initiate changes in football playing rules; at a follow-on meeting on December 28, 1905, at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York City, 62 higher-education institutions became charter members of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). The IAAUS was officially established on March 31, 1906, and took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910.

For several years, the NCAA was a discussion group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was conducted: the National Collegiate Track and Field Championships. Gradually, more rules committees were formed and more championships were created, including a basketball championship in 1939.

1970s–1980s

As college athletics grew, the scope of the nation's athletics programs diverged, forcing the NCAA to create a structure that recognized varying levels of emphasis. In 1973, the association's membership was divided into three legislative and competitive divisions – I, II, and III. Five years later in 1978, Division I members voted to create subdivisions I-A and I-AA (renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision in 2006) in football.

Until the 1980s, the association did not govern women's athletics. Instead, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), with nearly 1,000 member schools, governed women's collegiate sports in the United States. The AIAW was in a vulnerable position that precipitated conflicts with the NCAA in the early-1980s. Following a one-year overlap in which both organizations staged women's championships, the AIAW discontinued operation, and most member schools continued their women's athletics programs under the governance of the NCAA. By 1982 all divisions of the NCAA offered national championship events for women's athletics. A year later in 1983, the 75th Convention approved an expansion to plan women's athletic program services and pushed for a women's championship program.

Late 1990s

In 1999, the NCAA was sued for treating female athletes unfairly under Title IX. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA was not subject to that law, without reviewing the fairness claim.

Over the last two decades recruiting international athletes has become a growing trend among NCAA institutions. For example, most German athletes outside of Germany are based at US universities. For many European athletes, the American universities are the only option to pursue an academic and athletic career at the same time. Many of these students come to the US with high academic expectations and aspirations.

In 2009, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, became the NCAA's first non-US member institution, joining Division II. In 2018, Division II membership approved allowing schools from Mexico to apply for membership; CETYS of Tijuana, Baja California expressed significant interest in joining at the time. However, Simon Fraser announced in 2025 that it had applied to return to Canada's national governing body of U Sports, and would leave the NCAA in 2027 if its application was accepted.

In 2014, the NCAA set a record high of $989 million in net revenue. Just shy of $1 billion, it is among the highest of all large sports organizations.^{[citation needed]}

During the NCAA's 2022 annual convention, the membership ratified a new version of the organization's constitution. The new constitution dramatically simplifies a rulebook that many college sports leaders saw as increasingly bloated.

It also reduced the size of the NCAA Board of Governors from 20 to 9, and guaranteed that current and former athletes have voting representation on both the NCAA board and the governing bodies of each NCAA division. The new constitution was the first step in a reorganization process in which each division will have the right to set its own rules, with no approval needed from the rest of the NCAA membership.

Headquarters

The NCAA started its modern era in 1955 when it moved its headquarters from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri. This move aimed to keep the organization independent from any single conference. Over the years, the NCAA moved several times, finally settling in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1999. The current headquarters is located in White River State Park, featuring a large facility and a nearby Hall of Champions.

Structure

The NCAA's Board of Governors is the main group that runs the NCAA and chooses its president. The NCAA has many committees and groups that help make rules, with representatives from its member schools. These groups work together to create rules that are then approved by the Board of Directors, made up of school presidents. The NCAA's staff helps with many tasks, like working with the media and giving advice.

The NCAA also owns a company called ArbiterSports, located in Sandy, Utah. This company helps make sure sports referees are fair and consistent in their decisions.

The NCAA did not have a full-time leader until 1951, when Walter Byers became the first executive director. In 1998, the title changed to president.

In 2013, the NCAA hired Brian Hainline as its first chief medical officer.

Before 1957, all NCAA sports had one level of competition. In 1957, the NCAA split into two levels for men's basketball: the University Division for bigger schools and the College Division for smaller ones. Later, these divisions were renamed and split further. Today, the NCAA has three main divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III.

For some sports, the NCAA holds one tournament for all three divisions to decide a single national champion. These sports include women's bowling, men's and women's fencing, men's and women's gymnastics, women's ice hockey, rifle, skiing, men's indoor volleyball, women's beach volleyball, men's and women's water polo, and women's wrestling. The newest sport to join this format is women's wrestling, which started its first NCAA championship in the 2025–26 school year.

Player eligibility

See also: Amateurism in the NCAA

The NCAA requires all its athletes to be amateurs. New athletes must prove they are amateurs before they can join. To stay eligible, athletes cannot sign contracts with sports clubs, earn money from playing sports, try out for professional teams, or make agreements with agents.

To play in their first year of college, students must meet three rules: they must have finished high school, completed the needed school courses, and have passing grades. These courses include four years of English, two years of math, two years of social science, two years of science, and one more year in English, math, science, or another subject like a foreign language.

Students need a certain level of passing grades to join college sports right away. For example, in Division I, they need a grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.30 in high school. If their grades are a bit lower, they can still join in their second year with a GPA of 2.00.

Athletes can earn small prizes from competitions as long as the money does not go past their costs for the event. For example, a tennis player in high school can earn up to $10,000 in prizes without losing their chance to play in college.

Students can only play sports for four years in college. They can also take a year off from playing while still going to school and not lose one of their four years of eligibility. This is called redshirting, and it gives a student five years to play four seasons before they can join a professional team.

NCAA sponsored sports

The NCAA gives out 92 team championship titles each year. These include 47 titles for women’s sports, 43 for men’s sports, and 2 mixed teams for rifle and skiing. Some of the sports the NCAA supports are basketball, baseball for men, track and field, softball for women, football for men, cross country, field hockey for women, bowling for women, golf, fencing, lacrosse, soccer, gymnastics, rowing for women, swimming and diving, beach volleyball for women, volleyball, ice hockey, water polo, rifle for both men and women, tennis, skiing for both men and women, and wrestling.

Some newer sports that the NCAA now supports include acrobatics and tumbling, as well as stunt in cheerleading. These are all women’s sports and will have their first championships in spring 2027. The most recent sport added before this was women’s wrestling, which had its first championship in March 2026. Before that, beach volleyball had its first championship in spring 2016.

The NCAA also supports special sports for women called "Emerging Sports." These sports do not yet have official championships but are growing in popularity. The current Emerging Sports for women are equestrian (for Divisions I and II only), flag football, rugby, and triathlon.

Sports added and dropped

Over time, the popularity of different sports in college has changed. From 1988 to 2011, NCAA schools added many new teams for men and women. Men's sports like indoor track and field, lacrosse, and cross country grew a lot, while sports like wrestling and tennis lost teams. Women's sports, especially soccer, golf, and indoor track and field, added many new teams.

There are tables showing how the number of teams for different men's and women's sports changed over the years.

Championships

Further information: List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships and List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships

See also: NACDA Directors' Cup, Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships, List of college athletics championship game outcomes, and Intercollegiate sports team champions

Trophies

The NCAA gives out special trophies for teams that do well in sports like basketball and football. These trophies are made of gold, silver, or bronze for the top three teams. In basketball, teams that get to the Final Four get special trophies too. The team that wins the big championship game gets a shiny gold trophy.

Stanford, UCLA, and Southern California (USC) have won the most of these special trophies.

Football Bowl Subdivision

Main articles: College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS and College Football Playoff

The NCAA does not have an official championship for the top level of college football. Instead, different groups choose their own winners. From 2014 to 2023, the College Football Playoff picked the best four teams to play in two games, with the winners meeting in a big championship game. This game’s winner gets a trophy, but it is not called an NCAA championship. Starting in 2024, more teams will join this playoff.

Current champions

+: The Division I FCS National Championship is the official NCAA-sanctioned football championship for Division I. The NCAA doesn't officially endorse a national champion at the Division I FBS level but keeps a list of "official selectors" in its record books.

Conferences

See also: List of NCAA conferences and List of college athletic conferences in the United States

The NCAA is split into three levels called divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III. These divisions are organized by the size of the schools and the number of sports they offer. Most schools join a main group called a "multisport conference" for most of their sports, but they can join different groups for different sports.

The schools listed as "Independents" in Division I, Division II, and Division III do not belong to a main conference for a particular sport. However, they might still belong to conferences for other sports. For example, Notre Dame mostly joins the Atlantic Coast Conference but its ice hockey team plays in the Big Ten Conference, and its football team plays without a conference.

Division I

Main articles: NCAA Division I and List of NCAA Division I athletic directors

In Division I, each main conference must have at least seven schools and offer at least 12 sports—six for men and six for women. They must also include both men's and women's basketball. Some conferences can operate with fewer schools for up to two years under special rules.

For schools in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, there are extra rules. They must offer at least six men's and eight women's sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, and at least two other women's sports. Starting in 2027–28, these schools will also need to provide a certain amount of financial support for their athletes.

Notes

• FBS conferences in football are marked with an asterisk (*)

• FCS conferences in football are marked with two asterisks (**)

• Conferences that do not sponsor football or basketball are in italics

• America East Conference

• American Conference (American) *

• Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10)

• Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) *

• Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) **

• Big 12 Conference (Big 12) *

• Big East Conference

• Big Sky Conference **

• Big South Conference **

• Big Ten Conference (Big Ten or B1G) *

• Big West Conference

• Coastal Athletic Association (CAA)

• Conference USA (CUSA) *

• Horizon League

• Ivy League **

• Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)

• Mid-American Conference (MAC)*

• Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) **

• Missouri Valley Conference (MVC)

• Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF)

• Mountain West Conference (MW) *

• NEC (Northeast Conference before October 2025) **

• Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) **

• Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) *

• Patriot League **

• Southeastern Conference (SEC) *

• Southern Conference (SoCon) **

• Southland Conference **

• Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) **

• The Summit League (The Summit)

• Sun Belt Conference (SBC) *

• West Coast Conference (WCC)

• Western Athletic Conference (WAC) **

• NCAA Division I Independents

Division I FCS football-only conferences

• Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference (CAA Football)
• Missouri Valley Football Conference
• Pioneer Football League

Division I hockey-only conferences

See also: List of NCAA Division I ice hockey programs

Division I ice hockey has different conference groups than other sports. These schools belong to other conferences for their non-hockey sports.

Men only

• Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) – revived in 2021; previously operated from 1971 to 2013
• National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC)

Women only

• New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA)
• Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA)

Men and women

• Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) – formed in 2024 by the merger of the men's Atlantic Hockey Association and the women's College Hockey America
• ECAC Hockey
• Hockey East (also HEA, from its full name of Hockey East Association)

Division II

Main article: NCAA Division II

Division II schools must offer at least five sports for men and five for women (or four for men and six for women), with at least two team sports for each gender. Each gender must also have sports in every season.

• California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA)
• Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC)
• Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA)
• Conference Carolinas (CC)
• East Coast Conference (ECC)
• Great American Conference (GAC)
• Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC)
• Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC)
• Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC)
• Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC)
• Gulf South Conference (GSC)
• Lone Star Conference (LSC)
• Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA)
• Mountain East Conference (MEC)
• Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10)
• Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC)
• Pacific West Conference (PacWest)
• Peach Belt Conference (PBC)
• Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)
• Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC)
• South Atlantic Conference (SAC)
• Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC)
• Sunshine State Conference (SSC)
• NCAA Division II Independents

Division III

Main article: NCAA Division III

Division III schools cannot offer sports scholarships. They must offer at least three team sports for each gender, covering all seasons. Schools with fewer than 1,000 students must offer at least five sports for each gender, while larger schools must offer six.

• Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC)
• American Rivers Conference (ARC)
• American Southwest Conference (ASC)
• Atlantic East Conference (AEC)
• Centennial Conference (Centennial)
• City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC)
• Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C)
• College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW)
• Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS)
• Conference of New England (CNE)
• Empire 8 (E8)
• Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC)
• Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC)
• Landmark Conference (Landmark)
• Liberty League (Liberty)
• Little East Conference (LEC)
• Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC)
• Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA)
• Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC) – An umbrella organization of the following three conferences:
  • MAC Commonwealth, sponsoring competition in 14 sports, but not football
  • MAC Freedom, sponsoring competition in the same set of 14 sports
  • Middle Atlantic Conference, sponsoring 13 sports, including football
• Midwest Conference (Midwest or MWC)
• Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC)
• New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
• New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)
• New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC)
• North Atlantic Conference (NAC)
• North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC)
• Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC)
• Northwest Conference (NWC)
• Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC)
• Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)
• Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC)
• Skyline Conference (Skyline)
• Southern Athletic Association (SAA)
• Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC)
• Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC)
• State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC)
• St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC)
• United East Conference
• University Athletic Association (UAA)
• Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC)
• USA South Athletic Conference (USA South)
• Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC)
• NCAA Division III Independents

Division III ice hockey-only conferences

• ECAC East – men's and women's
• ECAC Northeast – men's only
• ECAC West – men's and women's
• Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) – men's and women's
• United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) – men's and women's

Division III lacrosse-only conferences

• Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) – men's only
• Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MWLC) – women's only

Division III men's volleyball-only conferences

• Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC)
• Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL)
• New England Collegiate Conference (NECC)
• United Volleyball Conference (UVC)

Media

The NCAA has agreements with several TV networks to show its sports championships. Networks like CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN+, ABC, TNT Sports, and the Golf Channel will show many of the NCAA's events until the 2031–32 season.

Some of the biggest events shown include the men's basketball tournament on CBS and TNT, and many other sports like soccer, swimming, and golf on ESPN and others. Radio broadcasts of important basketball and baseball games are handled by Westwood One.

Office of Inclusion

The NCAA has worked on programs to support diversity and inclusion in college sports. In October 2018, they held a week-long campaign to use social media to promote these values. The NCAA believes in fairness and equal chances for all students, coaches, and leaders, no matter their background.

The NCAA makes sure everyone is treated fairly, including people of different races, genders, and abilities. They have rules to help make sure women and men have equal chances in sports. They also work to support students with disabilities and international students who want to play sports in college. The NCAA tries to make college sports a place where everyone feels welcome and respected.

College team name changes

Since 2018, some schools have changed their team names because these names were based on stereotypes that some people found upsetting. Many of these names were inspired by Native American culture. Some schools changed their names after getting approval from the tribes they represented, while others continue to use their old names.

Here are some schools that changed their team names:

• Stanford – Indians to Cardinals (1972); became Cardinal in 1981
• UMass – Redmen and Redwomen to Minutemen and Minutewomen (1972)
• Dartmouth – Indians to Big Green (1974)
• Siena – Indians to Saints (1988)
• Eastern Michigan – Hurons to Eagles (1991)
• St. Bonaventure - Brown Indians to Bonnies
• St. John's (NY) – Redmen to Red Storm (1994)
• Syracuse - Orangemen to Orange
• Marquette – Warriors to Golden Eagles (1994)
• Chattanooga – Moccasins to Mocs, suggestive of mockingbirds (1996)
• Miami (OH) – Redskins to RedHawks (1997)
• Seattle – Chieftains to Redhawks (2000)
• Colgate – Red Raiders to Raiders (2001)
• Quinnipiac – Braves to Bobcats (2002)
• Southeast Missouri State – Indians (men) and Otahkians (women) to Redhawks (2005)
• Louisiana–Monroe – Indians to Warhawks (2006)
• Arkansas State – Indians to Red Wolves (2008)
• North Dakota – Formally dropped Fighting Sioux in 2012; adopted Fighting Hawks in 2015

Some other schools made smaller changes to their symbols while keeping their team names the same.

Rules violations

Member schools agree to follow rules set by the NCAA. If a school is thought to have broken these rules, the NCAA looks into it. They may find small mistakes or bigger problems. If big problems are found, the school might be put on "probation," meaning they have to follow extra rules for a while.

In very serious cases, the NCAA can stop a school from playing a sport for a time. This is called the "Death Penalty." It has only happened a few times, and it can really hurt a school's sports program for many years. Coaches and staff who break the rules might not be allowed to work at any NCAA school for a while, which makes it hard for them to find new jobs.

One famous case was about a top college football player whose family was said to have wanted money for him to play at a different school, but he was allowed to keep playing.

Sponsors

The NCAA has two levels of sponsors. Big companies like AT&T, Coca-Cola, and Capital One are called NCAA Corporate Champions. All other sponsors are known as NCAA Corporate Partners.

Finances

The NCAA is a nonprofit group that runs college sports in the United States and Canada. It does not need to pay most taxes because of this status. In 2014, the NCAA had over $600 million in assets and almost a billion dollars in income for that year. Most of this money came from showing and advertising sports events on TV.

NCAA expenditures

The NCAA gets most of its money from TV rights for basketball and ticket sales for championship events. This money helps support the schools, teams, and over 500,000 student athletes. In 2017, the NCAA made more than $1 billion in revenue. The biggest part of this money went to help pay for sports, scholarships, and support for student athletes. Smaller amounts paid for things like travel, food, and lodging for championship events.

Expenses by category

The NCAA spends its money in many ways. The largest amounts go to help pay for sports and scholarships, support for student athletes, and running big championship events. Other money pays for things like academic programs, legal services, and day-to-day operations. In 2017, over half of the money went back to the schools and athletes in different ways.

The categories:

• $210.8M Sport Sponsorship and Scholarship Funds

Distributed to Division I schools to help fund NCAA sports and provide scholarships for college athletes.

• $160.5M Division I Basketball Performance Fund

Distributed to Division I conferences and independent schools based on their performance in the men's basketball tournament over a six-year rolling period. The money is used to fund NCAA sports and provide scholarships for college athletes.

• $96.7M Division I Championships

Provides college athletes the opportunity to compete for a championship and includes support for team travel, food, and lodging.

• $82.2M Student Assistance Fund

Distributed to Division I student-athletes for essential needs that arise during their time in college.

• $71.8M Student-Athlete Services

Includes funding for catastrophic injury insurance, drug testing, student-athlete leadership programs, postgraduate scholarships, and additional Association-wide championships support.

• $50.3M Division I Equal Conference Fund

Distributed equally among Division I basketball-playing conferences that meet athletic and academic standards to play in the men's basketball tournament. The money is used to fund NCAA sports and provide scholarships for college athletes.

• $46.7M Academic Enhancement Fund

Distributed to Division I schools to assist with academic programs and services.

• $42.3M Division II Allocation

Funds championships, grants, and other initiatives for Division II college athletes.

• $39.6M Membership Support Services

Covers costs related to NCAA governance committees and the annual NCAA Convention.

• $28.2M Division III Allocation

Funds championships, grants, and other initiatives for Division III college athletes.

• $9.5M Division I Conference Grants

Distributed to Division I conferences for programs that enhance officiating, compliance, minority opportunities, and more.

• $3.3M Educational Programs

Supports various educational services for members to help prepare student-athletes for life, including the Women Coaches Academy, the Emerging Leaders Seminars, and the Pathway Program.

• $74.3M Other Association-Wide Expenses

Includes support for Association-wide legal services, communications, and business insurance.

• $39.7M General and Administrative Expenses

Funds the day-to-day operations of the NCAA national office, including administrative and financial services, information technology, and facilities management.

Player compensation proposals

Main article: House v. NCAA

See also: NCAA v. Alston and Fair Pay to Play Act

The NCAA used to only allow players to get scholarships for school, but this has changed. Players can now earn money from endorsements and using their names, images, and likenesses. In 2021, a court decision allowed more ways for players to get paid. Starting in 2024, schools can directly pay players for the first time, with plans to share more money with athletes in the future.

Individual awards

See also: Academic All-America, Best Female College Athlete ESPY Award, Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award, Senior CLASS Award, Honda Sports Award, List of college baseball awards, and List of 2009 all-decade Sports Illustrated awards and honors#College basketball honors.

The NCAA gives out many special awards to honor students who do great things. Some of these awards include:

• NCAA Award of Valor for heroes.
• NCAA Gerald R. Ford Award for leaders in sports.
• NCAA Inspiration Award for inspiring others.
• NCAA Sportsmanship Award for showing good sportsmanship.
• NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award, the biggest honor the NCAA can give.
• NCAA Woman of the Year Award for a top female student athlete.
• Elite Scholar-Athlete Award for the best student athletes.
• Silver Anniversary Awards for former athletes who did well.
• The Flying Wedge Award for leadership.
• Today's Top 10 Award for ten great senior athletes.
• Walter Byers Scholarship for top scholar-athletes.

Other collegiate athletic organizations

The NCAA is the biggest group for college sports in the United States, but it is not the only one. There are several other groups that help organize sports for college students.

In the United States, some of these groups include the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which stopped working in 1982, and others like the California Community College Athletic Association, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and National Junior College Athletic Association.

Other countries also have their own groups for college sports. For example, Canada has U Sports and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, while the Philippines has its own National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines).