The US college System

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There are over 3,700 accredited post-secondary education institutions in the USA.

  • Colleges (NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA): award a bachelor’s degree at the completion of four years of full-time study

  • Junior Colleges (NJCAA): award associated degrees at the completion of two years of full-time study

Institutions can either be public or private and there is no distinction in quality between the two. Private institutions will usually charge higher tuition fees.

A Bachelor Degree course requires four years of study in the USA. The first two years of study are general years of study and the remaining two years focus on your major area of study. In Australia, many Bachelor degrees can be obtained in three years.

Junior Colleges provide only the first two years of a general college education. On completion of these two years, you will need to transfer to a “four-year school” to complete your degree. You may also be able to transfer your studies to an Australian university.

Check out https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/ and begin researching schools of interest. Filter by:

  • Two or Four year colleges

  • Sports

  • Athletic scholarships

  • Areas/majors/subjects of study

Structure

In the USA, there are three different bodies involved in the organisation of College sport, and each has its own set of rules and regulations.

National College Athletic Association (NCAA)

The National College Athletic Association (NCAA) governs “four-year” college and university members’ sports programs.

This is the premier college competition in the USA and is comprised of three NCAA divisions (I, II and III), with Division I being the most prestigious.

Both Division I and Division II schools can offer athletic scholarships. Division III schools cannot offer athletic scholarships. However, they can offer other forms of financial assistance.

Some of the most prestigious colleges in the USA participate in the NCAA, such as Stanford, Harvard, Duke and UCLA. Whilst an athletic scholarship can assist with the cost of attending the school, a student-athlete must first meet the academic requirements of the college.

National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)

Junior or Community Colleges offer two-year courses and their competition is governed by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

NJCAA Colleges compete in one of three divisions, and each division has regulations about what scholarships they can offer:

  • Division I – may offer full athletic scholarships

  • Division II – limited to awarding tuition, fees and books

  • Division III – cannot provide athletically related financial assistance

There are 510 institutions that are members of the NJCAA and the website has a search function that allows you to find details of each college.

If you enter an NJCAA school as a student-athlete, you must stay at the school for two years. If you then transfer after two years you may be eligible to be a student-athlete for two more years at a four-year institution.

If you enter an NJCAA school as an academic student (i.e. not on an athletic scholarship) you can transfer after one year, which means you can have three years left of NCAA eligibility (NOTE: Standard eligibility for NCAA is four years).

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

Approximately 300 colleges compete in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) competition, which has fewer recruiting restrictions and an easier application process than the other competitions already detailed. NAIA schools are “four-year” schools and there are two divisions. More than 90% of NAIA colleges offer athletic scholarships.