NCAA Division I independent schools

NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division I level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.

Full independents

No schools are competing as full independents for the 2024–25 season. The most recent full independent, Chicago State, joined the Northeast Conference (NEC) after the conclusion of the 2023–24 season. ^[1]

Recent independents

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Colors	Current conference
Chicago State University	Chicago, Illinois	1867	Public (TMCF)	2,620 [2]	Cougars	1984; 2006; 2022	1993; 2009; 2024		Northeast (NEC)
University of Hartford	West Hartford, Connecticut	1877	Nonsectarian	6,792	Hawks	2022	2023		Conference of New England (CNE) [lower-alpha 1]
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)	Newark, New Jersey	1881	Public	11,901	Highlanders	2006; 2013	2008; 2015		America East

Notes

1. Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.

Baseball

One school will be competing as an independent in baseball for the 2025 season (2024–25 academic year). Oregon State announced that they would be competing as a baseball independent after their home conference, the Pac-12, collapsed following the 2023–24 season. ^[3]

Institution	Founded	Nickname	First season	Location	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Oregon State University	1868	Beavers	1907	Corvallis, Oregon	Public	37,121	West Coast Conference [lower-alpha 1]

1. Oregon State is technically one of the two remaining members of the Pac-12 Conference beyond the 2023–24 school year, but is housing most of its non-football sports in the West Coast Conference through 2025–26, after which time the Pac-12 will resume operation with at least six confirmed new members.

Bowling

Bowling, like beach volleyball, is currently a women-only sport at the NCAA level that holds a single national championship open to all NCAA members. As of 2024–25 season, eight bowling programs compete as independents.

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Baldwin Wallace University	Yellow Jackets	Berea, Ohio	1845	Private	2,592	OAC (Division III)
Dominican University	Stars	River Forest, Illinois	1901	Private	3,066	NACC (Division III)
Mount St. Mary's University	Mountaineers	Emmitsburg, Maryland [lower-alpha 1]	1808	Private	1,889	MAAC (Division I)
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska)	Cornhuskers	Lincoln, Nebraska	1869	Public	25,260	Big Ten (Division I)
Wartburg College	Knights	Waverly, Iowa	1852	Private	1,563	ARC (Division III)
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater	Warhawks	Whitewater, Wisconsin	1868	Public	11,722	WIAC (Division III)
Wittenberg University	Tigers	Springfield, Ohio	1845	Private	1,326	NCAC (Division III)
Wright State University	Raiders	Fairborn, Ohio [lower-alpha 2]	1967	Public	10,264	Horizon (Division I)

1. The Mount St. Mary's campus has an Emmitsburg mailing address, but is located in unincorporated Frederick County.
2. Mailing address is Dayton.

Field hockey

One school is a Division I independent in the current 2024 field hockey season. Queens University of Charlotte began a transition from NCAA Division II to Division I in July of 2022, joining the Atlantic Sun Conference. ^[4] (Another school that started the same transition in 2022, Stonehill, joined the field hockey-sponsoring Northeast Conference. ^[5] ) However, the ASUN does not sponsor field hockey, and Queens has yet to announce a future field hockey affiliation for its program.

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Queens University of Charlotte	Royals	Charlotte, North Carolina	1857	Private	1,740	Atlantic Sun Conference

Football

Football Bowl Subdivision

Further information: NCAA Division I FBS independent schools

As of the current 2024 college football season, three NCAA Division I FBS schools are football independents. The ranks of FBS independents dropped by one when Army departed to join the American Athletic Conference as an affiliate for football. UMass will become a full member of the Mid-American Conference in 2025.

Institution	Founded	Nickname	First season	Location	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
University of Notre Dame	1842	Fighting Irish	1887	Notre Dame, Indiana	Private	12,179	Atlantic Coast Conference [lower-alpha 1]
University of Connecticut (UConn)	1881	Huskies	1896	Storrs, Connecticut [lower-alpha 2]	Public	32,257	Big East Conference
University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass)	1863	Minutemen	1879	Amherst, Massachusetts [lower-alpha 3]	Public	29,269	Atlantic 10 Conference

Notes

1. Notre Dame remains officially an independent football team, and is not a member of the ACC in any capacity for football. However, as part of the agreement to join the ACC in other sports, Notre Dame agreed to schedule 5 games per year against ACC opponents. ^[6]
2. While the UConn campus is in Storrs, the Huskies play home games in East Hartford, Connecticut.
3. The core of the UMass campus is in Amherst, but the Minutemen's on-campus stadium is in the adjacent town of Hadley, Massachusetts.

Football Championship Subdivision

Further information: NCAA Division I FCS independent schools

As of the 2024 season, two schools, Merrimack and Sacred Heart, are playing as FCS independents. Both left the football-sponsoring Northeast Conference for the non-football Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at the end of the 2023–24 school year.

Institution	Founded	Nickname	First season	Location	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Merrimack College	1947	Warriors	1996	North Andover, Massachusetts	Private	3,726	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Sacred Heart University	1963	Pioneers	1991	Fairfield, Connecticut		5,974

Ice hockey

Further information: NCAA Division I independent schools (ice hockey)

Men

There are currently five NCAA Division I independents in men's ice hockey—the University of Alaska Fairbanks (branded athletically as simply "Alaska"), the University of Alaska Anchorage, Lindenwood University, Long Island University (LIU), and Stonehill College.

Alaska became a men's independent after the 2020–21 season due to the demise of its former league, the men's side of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (the WCHA remains in operation as a women-only league). The seven Midwestern members of the men's WCHA left to reestablish the Central Collegiate Hockey Association without the WCHA's three geographic outliers—the two Alaska schools, along with Alabama–Huntsville. Of these three schools, Alaska was the only one that did not initially drop hockey. ^[7]

Alaska-Anchorage's hockey program was suspended in 2020 by the University of Alaska System due to a reduction in state funding, along with the skiing and gymnastics programs. The 2020–21 season was set to be its last, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they did not end up playing that season either. The Alaska Board of Regents told the hockey program they would be reinstated if they were able to collect 3 million dollars in donations and fundraising, so the team was on hiatus for both the 2020–21 and 2021–22 season while its future was uncertain. Ultimately, the money was raised, and the Seawolves were reinstated for the 2022–23 season, but due to the WCHAs aforementioned disbanding, they resumed play as an independent alongside the Nanooks.

LIU announced in late April 2020 that it would launch varsity men's hockey for the 2020–21 season. The Sharks have yet to announce a conference home, but played their first season as a scheduling partner of Atlantic Hockey. ^[8]

In 2021–22, Lindenwood fielded two separate men's club teams, each playing at a different level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), which governs the sport at club level. On March 23, 2022, Lindenwood announced that it would launch a Division I men's varsity program starting in the 2022–23 season, while maintaining its ACHA program. This announcement came shortly after the school announced it was starting a transition from Division II to Division I in July 2022, joining the non-hockey Ohio Valley Conference. ^[9]

On April 5, 2022, Stonehill, then a member of the D-II Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10), announced it was joining the Northeast Conference (which also does not sponsor ice hockey) that July, starting its own transition to D-I. Before this announcement, Stonehill had been one of seven NE-10 members that played men's ice hockey under Division II regulations, despite the NCAA not sponsoring a championship event at that level. (All other D-II schools with varsity men's ice hockey play under D-I regulations.) ^[10]

Neither Lindenwood nor Stonehill has announced a conference home for its men's hockey program.

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Years	Primary conference
University of Alaska Fairbanks (Alaska)	Nanooks	Fairbanks, Alaska	1917	Public	8,336	2021–present	Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Division II)
University of Alaska Anchorage	Seawolves	Anchorage, Alaska	1954	Public	6,813	2022–present	Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Division II)
Lindenwood University	Lions	St. Charles , Missouri	1827	Private	6,491	2022–present	Ohio Valley Conference
Long Island University	Sharks [11]	Brooklyn and Brookville, New York [lower-alpha 1]	1926	Private	15,197	2020–present	Northeast Conference
Stonehill College	Skyhawks	Easton, Massachusetts	1946	Private	2,500	2022–present	Northeast Conference

1. The current LIU athletic program was created in 2019 with the merger of the athletic programs of the university's two main campuses—the Brooklyn campus, which had been a Division I member, and the Post campus in Brookville, which had competed in Division II. The merged program inherited Brooklyn's Division I membership. The team is open to undergraduate men at both campuses who meet NCAA eligibility requirements.

Soccer

Women

The most recent departure from the independent ranks was Delaware State, who joined the Northeast Conference as an affiliate in women's soccer in 2023. ^[12]

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
South Carolina State University	Lady Bulldogs	Orangeburg, South Carolina	1896	Public	3,000	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Volleyball

Men's (indoor)

Men's volleyball has a truncated divisional structure in which members of both Division I and Division II compete under identical scholarship limits for a single national championship. Thirteen men's volleyball programs play as independents; all but one are D-II members.

Maryville, Missouri S&T, and Rockhurst will leave the independent ranks after the 2025 season once their primary home of the Great Lakes Valley Conference starts sponsoring the sport, with Roosevelt and Thomas More joining them as affiliate members. ^[13]

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Barry University	Buccaneers	Miami Shores, Florida	1940	Private	6,958	Sunshine State Conference (Division II)
Catawba College	Indians	Salisbury, North Carolina	1851	Private	1,172	South Atlantic Conference (Division II)
Lincoln Memorial University	Railsplitters	Harrogate, Tennessee	1897	Private	2,579	South Atlantic Conference (Division II)
Maryville University	Saints	Town and Country, Missouri [lower-alpha 1]	1872	Private	3,500	Great Lakes Valley Conference (Division II)
Merrimack College	Warriors	North Andover, Massachusetts	1947	Private	3,726	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Missouri University of Science and Technology	Miners	Rolla, Missouri	1870	Public	6,086	Great Lakes Valley Conference (Division II)
University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón	Cowboys	Bayamón, Puerto Rico	1971	Public	5,014	Independent [lower-alpha 2] (Division II)
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez	Tarzans	Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	1911	Public	13,146	Independent [lower-alpha 2] (Division II)
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus	Gallitos	San Juan, Puerto Rico	1903	Public	18,653	Independent [lower-alpha 2] (Division II)
Rockhurst University	Hawks	Kansas City, Missouri	1910	Private	2,545	Great Lakes Valley Conference (Division II)
Roosevelt University	Lakers	Chicago, Illinois	1945	Private	2,391	Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Division II)
Thomas More University	Saints	Crestview Hills, Kentucky	1921	Private	1,983	Great Midwest Athletic Conference (Division II)
Tusculum University	Pioneers	Tusculum, Tennessee [lower-alpha 3]	1794	Private	2,053	South Atlantic Conference (Division II)

1. Mailing address is St. Louis.
2. While no member of the University of Puerto Rico system is part of a recognized NCAA conference, all are members of Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria de Puerto Rico, which governs college sports competitions in Puerto Rico.
3. Mailing address is Greeneville.

Women's (beach)

Beach volleyball, currently a women-only sport at the NCAA level, holds a single national championship open to members of all three NCAA divisions. The following programs will compete as independents in the 2025 season (2024–25 school year).

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Berry College	Vikings	Mount Berry, Georgia	1902	Private	1,900	Southern Athletic Association (Division III)
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State Los Angeles)	Golden Eagles	Los Angeles, California	1947	Public	27,685	California Collegiate Athletic Association (Division II)
Chaminade University of Honolulu	Silverswords	Honolulu, Hawaii	1955	Private	2,836	Pacific West Conference (Division II)
Colorado Mesa University	Mavericks	Grand Junction, Colorado	1925	Public	11,000	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (Division II)
Concordia University Irvine (Concordia–Irvine)	Golden Eagles	Irvine, California	1976	Private	2,564	Pacific West Conference (Division II)
East Texas Baptist University	Tigers	Marshall, Texas	1912	Private	1,771	American Southwest Conference (Division III)
Hawaii Pacific University	Sharks	Honolulu, Hawaii	1965	Private	4,998	Pacific West Conference (Division II)
Hendrix College	Warriors	Conway, Arkansas	1876	Private	1,400	Southern Athletic Association (Division III)
Huntingdon College	Hawks	Montgomery, Alabama	1854	Private	900	Collegiate Conference of the South (Division III)
LaGrange College	Panthers	LaGrange, Georgia	1831	Private	1,100	Collegiate Conference of the South (Division III)
University of Lynchburg	Hornets	Lynchburg, Virginia	1903	Private	2,460	Old Dominion Athletic Conference (Division III)
University of Mary Hardin–Baylor	Crusaders	Belton, Texas	1845	Private	2,700	American Southwest Conference (Division III)
McKendree University	Bearcats	Lebanon, Illinois	1828	Private	1,960	Great Lakes Valley Conference (Division II)
Mississippi State University	Bulldogs	Mississippi State, Mississippi	1878	Public	21,884	Southeastern Conference
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska)	Cornhuskers	Lincoln, Nebraska	1869	Public	33,273	Big Ten Conference
Southwest Baptist University	Bearcats	Bolivar, Missouri	1878	Private	2,168	Great Lakes Valley Conference (Division II)
Spring Hill College	Badgers	Mobile, Alabama	1830	Private	1,439	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Division II)
Stevenson University	Mustangs	Stevenson, Maryland	1947	Private	3,621	MAC Commonwealth (Division III)
University of Texas at Austin (Texas)	Longhorns	Austin, Texas	1883	Public	52,384	Southeastern Conference
Texas A&M University–Kingsville	Javelinas	Kingsville, Texas	1925	Public	8,783	Lone Star Conference (Division II)
Vanguard University	Lions	Costa Mesa, California	1920	Private	2,752	Pacific West Conference (Division II)
Wayne State College	Wildcats	Wayne, Nebraska	1910	Public	4,202	Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (Division II)

Wrestling

As of the current 2024-25 season, one school is a Division I independent in wrestling. Mercyhurst University began a transition from NCAA Division II to Division I in July of 2024, joining the Northeast Conference. ^[14] However, the NEC does not sponsor men's wrestling, and Mercyhurst has yet to announce a future affiliation for its program.

One program previously competed as an independent in the most recent 2023-24 season. Morgan State University added a wrestling team for the 2023-24 season, becoming the only HBCU to field the sport at the Division I level. ^[15] However, their primary conference, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, does not sponsor the sport, so they competed as an independent in that sport only. In September of 2024, however, it was announced that Morgan State would join the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, a wrestling-only conference based in the Northeastern United States. ^[16]

Institution	Team	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Primary conference
Mercyhurst University	Lakers	Erie, Pennsylvania	1926	Private	2,759	Northeast Conference

Sports with no independents other than full independents

Women's ice hockey

No women's ice hockey teams have played as independents at the National Collegiate level, the de facto equivalent to Division I in that sport, since the 2018–19 season. In that season, five schools—Franklin Pierce, Post, Sacred Heart, Saint Anselm, and Saint Michael's—competed as independents, all participating in the nascent New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA), which had originally been established in 2017 as a scheduling alliance among all of the then-current National Collegiate independents. The NEWHA initially included six schools, but Holy Cross left after the inaugural 2017–18 NEWHA season to join Hockey East. The NEWHA officially organized as a conference in advance of the 2018–19 season, ^[17] but was not officially recognized by the NCAA as a Division I league until the 2019–20 season, by which time the newly launched LIU program had joined to return the conference membership to six. ^[18]

Men's lacrosse

No schools are competing as independents in the 2025 season. The most recent men's lacrosse independent, Le Moyne, moved its program to the Northeast Conference following the 2024 season.

Women's lacrosse

In the 2025 season (2024–25 school year), no schools compete as independents.

Men's soccer

No school is independent in the current 2024 men's soccer season.

Men's swimming & diving

No men's swimming & diving programs are independents in the 2024–25 season.

Women's swimming & diving

As in the case of men's swimming & diving, no women's programs in that sport are competing as independents in 2024–25.

See also

• NCAA Division II independent schools
• NCAA Division III independent schools

References

1. "Chicago State University To Join Northeast Conference" (Press release). Chicago State University. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
2. "CSU Graduate Enrollment Increases 5%". Chicago State University. September 11, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
3. Freeman, Joe (January 26, 2024). "Oregon State baseball to play independent schedule in 2025, giving Beavers chance to 'create our own identity'". OregonLive/The Oregonian. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
4. "ASUN Conference Welcomes Queens University of Charlotte as Its Newest Member" (Press release). ASUN Conference. May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
5. "Stonehill College Accepts Invitation to Join Northeast Conference" (Press release). Northeast Conference. April 5, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
6. "Notre Dame Goes To ACC: Bowl Security, Football Scheduling Flexibility Key To Move". Sports Business Daily. Street and Smith's Sports Group. September 13, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
7. Christensen, Joe (July 2, 2021). "WCHA's men's hockey era officially ends after 70 years". Star Tribune. Minneapolis. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
8. "Men's Hockey Announced as Atlantic Hockey Scheduling Partner" (Press release). LIU Sharks. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
9. "Lindenwood Adds NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey" (Press release). Lindenwood Lions. March 23, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
10. "Stonehill College Accepts Invitation to Join Northeast Conference" (Press release). Northeast Conference. April 5, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
11. "LIU Announces Addition of Men's Ice Hockey" (Press release). LIU Sharks. April 30, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
12. "Delaware State To Extend NEC Associate Membership Partnership to Women's Soccer & Women's Lacrosse" (Press release). Northeast Conference. September 27, 2022. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
13. "Men's Volleyball Announced as Next GLVC Sport in 2025-26". Great Lakes Valley Conference. July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
14. "Welcome To The Lake Show: Mercyhurst University Accepts Northeast Conference Membership Invite" (Press release). Northeast Conference. April 4, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
15. "Largest Donation in Morgan State University Athletics History Paves Way for Return of Division I Collegiate Wrestling, Following 24-Year Hiatus" (Press release). Morgan State Athletics. October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
16. "Morgan State joins the EIWA" (Press release). Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. September 19, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
17. "NEWHA announces intent to be recognized as NCAA national collegiate women's hockey conference". USCHO.com. September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
18. "New England Women's Hockey Alliance approved for NCAA Division I status, effective with '19-20 season". USCHO.com. September 4, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.