Division II is the division most families skip past. Coach Dad families are fixated on D1. First-generation families assume D2 and D3 are interchangeable. And the information gap is enormous — there's a fraction of the recruiting content written about D2 compared to D1, which means the families who would benefit most from understanding it often never do.
Here's what makes that a problem: D2 offers real athletic scholarship money (unlike D3, which offers none), has less restrictive recruiting rules than D1, demands less of athletes' time, and produces graduation rates that consistently outperform the general student body. For many athletes — strong but not elite, serious about their sport but unwilling to make it a full-time job — D2 is the best fit they'll find. They just don't know it exists as a serious option.
This article covers what Division II actually is, how the scholarships work, how the recruiting process differs from D1 and D3, and how to evaluate whether D2 belongs on your athlete's target list.
What Division II actually is
There are roughly 300 NCAA Division II institutions across 44 states. The average enrollment is around 4,000 students — smaller than most D1 universities, larger than many D3 colleges. Approximately 119,000 student-athletes compete at the D2 level.
D2's defining characteristic is balance. The NCAA's own framing for D2 is "Life in the Balance" — academics, athletics, and community engagement weighted more evenly than at D1, where athletics often dominates an athlete's schedule. That's not marketing language. D2 athletes typically commit 20 to 30 hours per week to their sport, compared to 30 to 40-plus at D1 and 15 to 25 at D3. The difference is meaningful: D2 athletes routinely describe having time for internships, campus organizations, and a social life that D1 athletes rarely access until after their playing career ends.
The competition level is legitimate. Many D2 programs are as well-coached as D1 programs — the gap is typically in roster depth, facilities, and resources, not in coaching quality or competitive intensity. Regional competition is emphasized, which means less travel and less missed class time than D1's national scheduling model.
D2 scholarship structure: equivalency scholarships by sport
Every D2 sport uses the equivalency model. Coaches receive a pool of scholarship money expressed as a number of full-scholarship equivalents, then divide that pool across the roster as they see fit. Partial scholarships are the norm. Full rides in D2 are rare.
| Sport | Men's equivalencies | Women's equivalencies |
|---|
| Football | 36 | — |
| Basketball | 10 | 10 |
| Soccer | 9 | 9.9 |
| Baseball / Softball | 9 | 7.2 |
| Track & Field / XC | 12.6 | 12.6 |
| Swimming & Diving | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Volleyball | — | 8 |
| Lacrosse | 10.8 | 9.9 |
| Wrestling | 9 | — |
| Golf | 3.6 | 5.4 |
Here's the math that matters. A D2 men's soccer program with 9 equivalencies and a roster of 28 players can't give everyone a full scholarship — 9 divided by 28 means the average athlete receives roughly a third of a full scholarship. But D2 coaches frequently stack athletic aid with academic merit scholarships and institutional grants. A 30% athletic scholarship at a school with $40,000 total cost is $12,000 in athletic aid — but if the athlete also qualifies for $10,000 in academic merit aid, the combined package covers more than half the bill. About 60% of D2 athletes receive some form of athletic aid, and the stacking strategy makes D2's net cost competitive with — and sometimes better than — what families pay at D1.
For the full breakdown of how equivalency scholarships work across all divisions, see our college athletic scholarships guide.
D2 vs. D1: the real differences
The assumption most families carry is that D2 is simply a lower level of D1. That framing misses what actually changes between the two divisions.
Time commitment. D1 athletes describe their sport as a full-time job layered on top of a full course load. D2 athletes train and compete seriously, but the NCAA limits off-season practice to 8 hours per week, and the in-season commitment is measurably lower. The difference shows up in academic performance, internship participation, and quality of life.
Recruiting intensity. D1 recruiting for high-profile sports often begins freshman year and verbal commitments can happen before an athlete turns 16. D2 recruiting is less pressured and operates on a longer timeline. Coaches can communicate via phone, text, and email before June 15 after sophomore year, and in-person contact and official visits begin after that date. The pace is more humane — families have more time to evaluate, and athletes are less likely to commit before they're ready.
Scholarship certainty. Both D1 and D2 use equivalency scholarships in most sports (D1 has a handful of headcount sports like football and basketball where full rides are standard). The key difference is that D2 scholarship pools are smaller, but D2 schools are often more aggressive about combining athletic and academic aid into a single package. The net cost comparison is the only one that matters — and it frequently favors D2.
Academic requirements. D2 requires the same 16 NCAA core courses as D1 but sets the minimum core GPA at 2.2 instead of 2.3. More importantly, D2 does not use the 10/7 lock-in rule that D1 implemented, which means athletes can continue improving their academic standing through senior year rather than having their core GPA locked after their seventh semester.
For a complete side-by-side comparison of all three NCAA divisions, see our guide to D1 vs. D2 vs. D3 differences.
D2 vs. D3: why financial outcomes often favor D2
Families who dismiss D1 as unrealistic sometimes lump D2 and D3 together. This is a significant mistake, because the financial models are fundamentally different.
D3 offers zero athletic scholarships — that's an absolute rule with no exceptions. D3 coaches can advocate for athletes in the admissions process and help them access academic merit aid and need-based grants, but they cannot guarantee a specific financial package. The final numbers often don't arrive until spring of senior year, which creates months of financial uncertainty.
D2 coaches can put a specific scholarship number on the table during the recruiting process. A D2 coach who offers a 40% athletic scholarship is making a commitment the family can plan around. Combine that with academic merit aid — which D2 schools actively layer on top of athletic awards — and the total package is frequently larger and more predictable than what a D3 school delivers.
The comparison that matters is net annual cost. A D2 school with a $35,000 sticker price that offers $14,000 in athletic aid plus $8,000 in academic merit means the family pays $13,000 per year. A D3 school with a $55,000 sticker price that offers $30,000 in combined merit and need-based aid means the family pays $25,000 per year. The D3 school gave a larger total award — and the family still pays nearly twice as much. Always run the math. Our guide to D3 athletic scholarships explains how D3 financial aid actually works.
The D2 recruiting process: how it differs
Contact rules. D2 coaches can contact athletes via phone, text, email, and mail starting June 15 after sophomore year. Before that date, athletes can reach out to coaches at any time — and should, for programs they're serious about. Off-campus in-person contact and official visits begin after June 15. This is moderately less restrictive than D1's sport-specific calendar of dead periods, quiet periods, and contact windows.
Proactive outreach matters more. D2 coaching staffs are smaller than D1 staffs, and recruiting budgets are tighter. A D1 program might have three assistant coaches traveling the country to evaluate talent. A D2 program might have one. This means self-marketing — emails, film, tournament schedules, recruiting profiles — is more important at the D2 level than at any other. The athlete who makes a coach's job easier by putting quality information directly in their inbox has a genuine advantage. Our guide to how to email a college coach covers exactly how to do this.
Signing. D2 no longer uses the National Letter of Intent. Instead, recruits sign a Written Offer of Athletics Aid during designated signing windows. For most sports, the initial signing date falls in mid-November.
Building a target list. With roughly 300 D2 institutions across 44 states, the landscape is large enough to require a deliberate approach. Start by identifying programs in your athlete's sport, filter by geography and academic programs, then evaluate the competitive level. Our guide to building a recruiting target list walks through the full process.
The bottom line
Division II is not D1's lesser sibling and it's not D3 with a different name. It's a distinct model — one that combines real athletic scholarship money, legitimate competition, manageable time demands, and strong academic outcomes. For athletes who are talented enough to compete at a high level but don't want athletics to consume their entire college experience, D2 is often the best answer. The families who explore it seriously tend to be surprised by what they find.
If your athlete is still trying to understand where they fit across the division landscape, our guide to D1 vs. D2 vs. D3 differences maps the complete comparison. For D2-specific academic eligibility — including GPA thresholds, the sliding scale, and why the absence of the 10/7 rule matters — see our D2 academic eligibility requirements guide. For the financial picture — how equivalency splitting works, what partial scholarships actually cover, and how to compare net cost across divisions — the college athletic scholarships guide has the full breakdown. Soccer families exploring D2 specifically can find a detailed breakdown of conferences, scholarship math, and how to evaluate programs in our D2 soccer colleges guide. And when your athlete is ready to reach out to coaches, the process starts with knowing how to email a college coach in a way that actually gets a response. For a state-specific look at how D2 recruiting works in practice, our D2 soccer colleges in Texas guide maps the Lone Star Conference and shows how D2 scholarship stacking works at Texas tuition rates. And for the comprehensive overview of D2 athletics — conferences, competitive landscape, and who D2 is right for — our D2 colleges guide covers the full picture.