The NAIA Advantage
Student-athletes come first in the NAIA. They are the inspiration that drives us to make character a core component and benefit of all intercollegiate sports.
- Spend $2MM less than NCAA peers
- 20% of student-athletes play national-level postseason
- 79% of NAIA members qualify for a national championship
- Flexible rules that encourage coach-student mentoring
- Character-driven athletics through Champions of Character®
Learn more about the NAIA Advantage:
NAIA schools can sponsor high-caliber athletics at a reasonable cost.
- Median budget: $4.9MM
- Median operating budget per student-athlete: $6.2K
NAIA athletics departments improve financial stability.
- Net return average is $4.0MM annually or $10,500 per student-athlete
- 94% of NAIA athletics departments produce a positive net return for their institution
- ROA Insights provides analytics of institution-level data
- Year-over-year trends to assess effectiveness
- Peer institution benchmarking to identify growth opportunities
- Calculators to estimate and optimize the financial return of athletics programs
- The average NAIA member sponsors 17 sports
- Build a program that best fits your school
- Standardized eligibility rules for all student-athletes
- Limited bureaucracy and simple, sensible rules
- Flexible, transparent financial aid rules to best support the institution
Dare to Compare
NAIA members have free access to ROA Insights – the only resource available to maximize the business performance of small colleges. ROA Insights leverages simple and consistent calculations for measuring and comparing the financial performance of athletics across over 250 small colleges.
Contact the Membership Team
Learn more about what the NAIA has to offer your institution.
Nick Davidson
Vice President of Membership Recruitment and Retention
816.595.8177 | Email Nick
