NAIA
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Active membership in the NAIA is open to fouryear colleges and universities, and upperlevel, twoyear institutions in the United States and Canada that award the bachelor’s (baccalaureate) degree, or its equivalent. Active members must be notforprofit organizations and (for members in the United States) fully accredited by one of the six established regional accrediting bodies. Associate membership is available to fouryear colleges and universities, and twoyear institutions in the U.S. and Canada that award bachelor’s degree(s) but do not hold full accreditation by one of the six institutional accrediting bodies. The NAIA does not require a minimum number of sponsored varsity sports. Consistent with the association’s philosophy of institutional autonomy, active members are permitted to make decisions about sports sponsorship consistent with their institution’s mission and overall budgetary needs. Affiliated NAIA conferences, however, often do have minimum sponsorship requirements that conference members must meet. Maximum institutional aid limits exist for each sport. Financial aid limitations are outlined in Article VIII, Section G of the current NAIA Council of Presidents policy manual. All or a portion of institutional aid awarded to individual studentathletes may be exempted based on academic performance. For example, aid to continuing students with a 3.60 cumulative gradepoint average or who are in the top 10 percent of their class will not count against financial aid limits.
Sources: NAIA.org, July 2005