NCAA Division II

NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment offered in Division III.

Before 1973, the NCAA's smaller schools were grouped together in the College Division. In 1973, the College Division split in two when the NCAA began using numeric designations for its competitions. The College Division members who wanted to offer athletic scholarships or compete against those who did became Division II, while those who chose not to offer athletic scholarships became Division III.

Nationally, ESPN2 and ESPN+ televises the championship game in football, CBS and Paramount+ televises the men's basketball championship, and ESPN+ televises both the women's basketball and women's volleyball championships.

The official slogan of NCAA Division II, implemented in 2015, is "Make It Yours." The NCAA argues that Division II offers a "balanced" approach to student athletics, providing a high level of competition with regional championships that require less travel and cost and more access to championships than the other divisions. For athletes, Division II mandates a mandatory day off from athletic activities per week; this requirement was eliminated from Division I in 2018.

There are currently 303 full, seven reclassifying and two provisional members of Division II. Division II schools tend to be public universities with less than 15,000 students and many are private institutions. A large minority of Division II institutions (91 schools / 30%) have fewer than 2,499 students. Only 18 institutions have more than 15,000 undergraduates, and only five have more than 25,000, led by Simon Fraser University. Eighty-nine percent of Division II institutions have fewer than 7,500 students.

Division II has a diverse membership, with two active member institutions in Alaska and three in Hawaii. Additionally, it is the only division that has member institutions in Puerto Rico and the only division that has expanded its membership to include an international member institution. Simon Fraser University became the first institution outside the US to enter the NCAA membership process. This occurred after the Division II Membership Committee accepted the institution's application during a July 7–9 meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. Simon Fraser, located in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia, began a two-year candidacy period September 1, 2009. Prospective members also must complete at least one year of provisional status before being accepted as full-time Division II members. In the fall of 2012, the NCAA President's Council officially approved Simon Fraser University as the organization's first international member. In April 2017, the NCAA made permanent the pilot program under which Simon Fraser was admitted to the NCAA, allowing each division to determine whether to allow Canadian or Mexican schools to join. In January 2018, Division II became the first NCAA division to officially allow Mexican schools to apply for membership, provided that they meet the same standards as US-based D-II members, including US regional accreditation. At the time, Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS), which is fully accredited in both the U.S. and Mexico, was seeking to become the first Mexican school to join the NCAA with the backing of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. However, as of 2024, neither CETYS nor the NCAA has made any further announcements regarding such a move.

Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships (number of teams × number of scholarships per team). Since all Division II sports are considered equivalency sports (as opposed to the "head-count" status of several Division I sports: men's and women's basketball, FBS football, women's gymnastics, women's tennis, women's [indoor] volleyball), all scholarship numbers are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if needed.

* Championships are combined with D-I