The NCAA membership continues to grow, as the total number of active institutions reached another all-time high this year.

Active membership increased by 19 schools this year to 1,024, up from last year's record total of 1,005. Overall, including conferences, provisional members and affiliated members, the total NCAA membership for 2003 is 1,283, also a record high.

This year's increase in active membership was fueled by Divisions II and III with eight and 10 new members, respectively. The Division II institutions that became active members in 2003 are Goldey-Beacom College, Green Mountain College, Holy Family College, North Greenville College, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and Nyack College. All eight schools completed their fourth year of provisional membership last year.

In Division III, the new active members are Baptist Bible College (Pennsylvania), Becker College, D'Youville College, La Grange College, Louisiana College, New York City College of Technology, Newbury College, Northland College, Piedmont College and Thomas College. Those institutions also completed their fourth year of provisional membership last year.

Active membership in Division I increased by one with the addition of two schools that completed their provisional status (Birmingham-Southern College and Lipscomb University) and the subtraction of one school (Morris Brown College) from active to corresponding status.

Reclassifications/provisionals

There are no member institutions that have reclassified their entire athletics programs for this year. However, two members have reclassified in one sport. Division II Augusta State University, which already had been playing at Division I in men's golf, has reclassified its women's golf program to Division I, and Division III Ursinus College, which had been playing at Division I in field hockey, will now sponsor that program at the Division III level.

Two institutions -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (from Division III to Division I in women's rowing), and the University of North Dakota (from Division II to Division I in women's ice hockey) -- plan on completing their reclassifications by 2004-05.

The number of provisional members decreased this year from 28 to 15. Five institutions will be eligible for active membership in 2004-05. They are: Florida Gulf Coast University and Wilmington College (Delaware) in Division II, and Alverno College, Huntingdon College and Transylvania University in Division III. The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference also is scheduled to complete its term as a provisional member in 2004-05.

Spelman College is on track to become a Division III member in 2006-07. Provisional members that will be eligible for active membership in 2007-08 are Central State University in Division II, and Finlandia University, University of Maine at Presque Isle, Mount Mary College, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley College and University of Texas at Tyler in Division III. Utah Valley State College will be eligible for active Division I membership in 2009-10.

Division III also established a future
schedule of provisional members through a drawing this summer. The following institutions will enter into their provisional schedules during the year indicated:

2004-05 -- Crown College, Keystone College, Mitchell College, Mount Aloysius College, Presentation College and Tri-State University.

2005-06 -- Bethany Lutheran College, La Sierra University, North Central University (Minnesota), Northwestern College (Minnesota), Purchase College and Salem College.

2006-07 -- Johnson and Wales University, Denver.

Seven institutions entered into an exploratory year this year to determine if they want to pursue NCAA membership. They are: Briarcliffe College; California State University, Monterey Bay; Claflin University; Newman University; North Georgia College & State University; Notre Dame de Namur University; and State University of New York at Cobleskill.