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While at this school, I’ve heard the term “DIII” tossed around like an insult quite a bit. “You’re just a DIII athlete,” some say. “It’s DIII for a reason.” Why is that? What do people think it means to be DIII?
DIII or D3 is short for Division III, a category in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It’s the last and most misunderstood of the three categories: Division I, Division II and Division III.
The biggest difference between DI and DIII schools is that the institutions under the latter category aren’t allowed to give athletic scholarships. However, common societal belief is that the difference is more so that DI has more funding and better competition. This isn’t false, but it isn’t necessarily true either.
Athletics here at Lawrence University are greatly bolstered by alumni donations, and even then, it is nowhere near a top-Division I budget given by an administration. But not all DI schools are created equally, and some have much smaller allowances than others. What really matters the most to athletes when looking at the money is the scholarships. DI and DII universities can give out athletic scholarships, and DIII can’t, so there must be way more financial aid at those schools, right? Wrong.
A whole 57% of DI athletes receive some kind of financial aid (athletic, academic, need-based or otherwise), while 80% of DIII athletes receive non-athletic scholarships and aid. So, in some ways, there is more money in DIII, just not the way that most people think about it.
So, what about competition? Once again, this question warrants a more complicated answer than the general public has been led to believe. Especially in my sport (cross country), times mean basically nothing. Depending on the course, weather and other runners in the race, there’s no such thing as a “DI XC time” and a “DIII XC time.” However, if you want to try to draw a recent “speed” comparison: the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota saw 17 DI schools compete, while the Jim Drews Invitational hosted by UW–La Crosse saw 20 DIII schools compete. The winner of the Jim Drews Invitational would have beaten out all the DI athletes and won the Roy Griak Invitational by nearly 50 seconds. The top 10 DIII times would have placed in the top 12 in this DI invitational.
And then there’s the issue of “better.” There is absolutely evidence to support the dominance of Division I in the NCAA: they have more sponsorships, more NIL deals, produce more Olympians (although there are Olympians that have come out of DIII!) and much more. But I guess the question is: does that truly make it better than DIII?
If I may offer a personal anecdote: I have plenty of friends on DI teams. They enjoy lots of traveling, lots of fancy gear and a college experience tailored specifically around their sport. But they also deal with high injury rates, high turnover of teammates and the unending pressure that comes with monetary values attached to their performance. If you want to be a professional athlete, DI is perfect practice.
The truth is that the large majority of collegiate athletes, including ones in DI, will not become professionals. Plenty will go on to work in sports: there are many related careers, including sports medicine, coaching and more! Those opportunities are not limited to DI athletes; there are plenty of athletes here at Lawrence exploring those same paths.
Many people, including myself, had offers from schools in other divisions, but chose DIII. Yes, it may be seen comparatively underfunded or less competitive — perhaps I haven’t convinced you that the answer is more nuanced. Even so, DIII has benefits that DI doesn’t. Besides the scholarship money and the academic-centered experience, it gives you a chance to compete with people who are truly only doing this for the love of the sport. We’re (probably) not going to be professional athletes, we’re not receiving NIL deal money, we’re not getting all the “deluxe” gear and equipment — we don’t get the societal gains from being able to call ourselves a DI athlete, which is deemed as the pinnacle of collegiate sport. We are here sacrificing our time and our energy without guarantee of monetary or societal “benefit,” simply because we want to. I certainly don’t think that’s something to be embarrassed about or used as an insult.