NCAA Division III: Reasons to Believe
Three quarters of all student-athletes in Division III receive some sort of grant, financial aid, or non-athletic scholarship.
Division III has a higher number and wider variety of athletic opportunities on average than any other division in the NCAA.
Division III playing seasons and eligibility standards minimize conflicts between athletics and academics, allowing student-athletes to focus on his or her academic progress and the achievement of a degree.
Division III athletic departments place special importance on the overall student-athlete experience.
As a part of the Division III philosophy, Division III institutions assure that student-athletes are not treated differently from other members of the student body.
Division III offers an intense and competitive athletics environment for student-athletes who play for the love of the game, without the obligation of an athletics scholarship.
The integration of athletics with the larger institution enables Division III student-athletes to experience all aspects of campus life, such as music programs, theater, and student government.
Division III encourages student-athletes to take advantage of the many opportunities available to them, both within and beyond athletics, so that they may develop their full potential as students, athletes, and citizens.
In the UMAC
In the 2009-10 academic year, 662 UMAC student-athletes earned Academic All-Conference honors.
Postitive student-athlete experience is one of the UMAC's core values.
The UMAC sponsors 17 conference championships annually.
Nearly 18 percent of UMAC students participate in athletics.
Katelyn Meger of St. Scholastica won the NCAA Division III Elite 88 Award for having the highest GPA at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships.
Northwestern's volleyball team won the NCAA Sportsmanship Award for 2009-10, beating out other finalists from Stanford University, Shuppensburg University, and Southern New Hampshire University.
St. Scholastica's Adian Kummet was drafted by the Cincinati Reds in 2009.
Maddie Gerber of the University of Minnesota-Morris received the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship in 2010.
Starting in 2011, the UMAC will have two football teams that were built from scratch in the last five years.
Northland College's Chelsea Lundgren was recognized nationally for scoring 1,000 career points in basketball while also recording 1,000 career kills in volleyball.