NAIA vs NCAA

What are the major differences between member institutions of NAIA vs NCAA? I have this perception that the NAIA has lower academic standards. Fact or myth? DD has been recruited by a NAIA school that is funded for 10 full softball scholarships but the NAIA affiliation has been a bit of turnoff. Are we looking at it all wrong?

southpaw coach said:

What are the major differences between member institutions of NAIA vs NCAA? I have this perception that the NAIA has lower academic standards. Fact or myth? DD has been recruited by a NAIA school that is funded for 12 full softball scholarships but the NAIA affiliation has been a bit of turnoff. Are we looking at it all wrong?

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Down here we describe NAIA as DIII with scholarships. Small schools with specialized curriculum and often high academic standards. Each school is different so you need to do your homework. While the level of play may not be the highest they often have a good amount of money available. As with any school you need to look at all aspects of the school and the softball program and see if it is a good fit for your DD.

The biggest difference I'd say is NAIA schools are mainly smaller private schools, often with a religious affiliation. A couple of newer CA state schools are NAIA, UC Merced and CSU San Marcos, although San Marcos will move to NCAA D-II next year. There have been a lot of schools moving from NAIA to NCAA D-II in recent years.

NCAA academic standards aren't all that high, so I'd be surprised if NAIA's are lower. The academic standards of the schools vary greatly within every division and/or athletic assoc, so you should really just focus on the academic fit of the school.

The NAIA scholarship limit for softball is 10, however many schools aren't fully funded. The NCAA D-II limit is 7.2, so highly-funded NAIA schools have to reduce their number of scholarships if/when they move to D-II.

Added: Just saw Riseball's post and obviously agree with most of it and the differences are probably regional.

riseball said:

Down here we describe NAIA as DIII with scholarships.

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That's an excellent characterization. NAIA schools tend to be very small. Some have only a few hundred students, so they're going to have only a small pool to pull athletes from, but that doesn't mean that the educational quality won't be excellent, because it might be. They won't have the variety of programs that bigger schools have, though. One of the things that makes NAIA schools such a tough sell is that they simply do not have the number of graduates that larger institutions have. A college prospect may have 150 people sharing firsthand experiences and telling her how awesome the University of ____ is, but may not know a single person who attended Nebraska Wesleyan.

Thanks that is helpful. I think I got that impression when I heard a coach referring to a girl who is a real stud and he said she would have to go to an NAIA school because she can barely maintain a C average. Since posting this I've done a little research and finding some prestigious NAIA schools outside my home state. This opens up more options as we are mostly looking at smaller private schools.

OK talked to that coach about her remark and I think what I understand is that NAIA has a lower academic standard when it comes to eligibility to participate in athletics than the NCAA. Initially I took her remark to mean that the quality of the schools was lower but that was not what was intended. Is this the case? My dd is an honor student so from that perspective it shouldn't matter I'm just curious.

southpaw coach said:

OK talked to that coach about her remark and I think what I understand is that NAIA has a lower academic standard when it comes to eligibility to participate in athletics than the NCAA. Initially I took her remark to mean that the quality of the schools was lower but that was not what was intended. Is this the case? My dd is an honor student so from that perspective it shouldn't matter I'm just curious.

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In our experience schools widely vary among DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA. In other words people tend to say DIII schools are more academic and that is generally true but what we learned is you really need to look at the specific school. The level may give you a very general idea but the variance in the academics and even softball programs is pretty massive. So generalizations only get you so far. I may be missing the mark on what you are asking but like I say just giving you our experience.

There are 2 sets of academic eligibility standards, initial freshman and on-going. The NCAA regs are fairly complicated and they vary by division. NAIA regs are overall much simpler than NCAA regs.

- NCAA's initial eligibility standards vary by division with Div-I being the highest and Div-III being totally left to the schools. Meeting initial eligibility standards (i.e. "qualifier") enables athletes to receive athletic aid, practice and play - as a freshman or when transferring in later (e.g from JC). See http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CBSA15.pdf for more info.

- NAIA is very simple. Ultimately, meet 2 of the 3 criteria listed below. They also have higher criteria to get an early decision as a senior. See www.playnaia.org/page/freshmen.php for more info.
- - Test score: 18 on ACT or 860 SAT (Math & Reading)
- - 2.0 overall HS GPA
- - Graduate in top half of HS class

IMO, meeting any of the eligibility requirements isn't an issue for students with the academic credentials to be accepted as a non-athlete into a decent college. It's mainly an issue for the students that didn't follow a college-prep curriculum in HS.

Down here we describe NAIA as DIII with scholarships.

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Generally accurate, with some exceptions. The "rich" NAIA schools are on-par with the top-tier D2 schools.

There are almost no recruiting rules for the NAIA. If a school has a lot of money, there is no limit to what it might do. The "rich" NAIA schools bring in talent from all over the world and win lots of championships.

Take a look at Oklahoma City U.--they've won 51 national championships. Back in the late 1990s, they always had a couple of members of the Aussi Olympic Team on their roster. Were they going to school at OCU? Who knows? Who cares? It's NAIA!

Being a player, full time coach and recruiter at an NAIA institution I will try to shed some light on the matter.
The eligibility of a player to accept financial aid to a NCAA institution is done through their clearing house. The player must submit an application and than is told what level NCAA institution they qualify for. The institution itself cannot have a higher admissions policy and decline enrollment once the clearinghouse rules on the application.
NAIA sets and across the board 2 out of to be eligible for finacial assistance, but they have to meet the schools academic acceptance policy also. So each school sets their enrollment standards. For instance the school I recruited for had a requirement of a 21 ACT and a 2.85 GPA to get accepted. If they didn't meet this I had to pass on recruiting them because they wouldn't get into school regardless of them meeting the athletic eligibility 2 of the 3. Try recruiting top players that meet those standards!!!
Now a lot of NAIA institutions have a open admissions policy. Meaning if you have a HS Diploma you can enroll for classes there but than you must meet a criteria and GPA after the first year to stay in school. This is where they level of competition is raised and not realized how high the playing level is. For instance, a NAIA school that's in Tennesse is within 20 minutes of Vanderbuilt, 4 hours from Atlanta, 2 hours from Knoxville and has an open admissions policy. They field their programs with D1 players that flunked out at the SEC schools and in baseball need to be able to play to raise their draft stock. You were playing a D1 team not a D3 caliber team. This level of talent is all over the NAIA landscape.
During my playing years we played two SEC schools with one that was ranked 4th,6th,9th,and 14th during my 4 years. Hosted a regional 3 of those years and we defeated them 3 times. Defeated the other school once out of two games. So don't look down on the level of play or you will be shocked.
The reason a lot of NAIA schools are going NCAA is finacial. The NCAA helps with post season travel expenses and conference tournament travel. The NAIA makes schools foot the bill.
Last story, a top NAIA baseball program had a run of 12 straight years of making a regional but never made a World Series appearance. Had several players drafted between the 5th and 15 th rounds annually. They made the switch to NCAA D2 the next year, and won back to back D2 National Titles their first 2 years as a NCAA school.
NAIA schools are smaller private schools that usually have a high academic standard and a unrecognized level of play in athletics.
Oh yea, the post that the recruiting has little or no rules is far from true. I had to maintain and verify all recruiting info and records and these were checked yearly by enforcement officers with unannounced visits at various times to check our records and procedures. So it isn't a do what Ya want to get the player you want.