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Five Division II men’s volleyball teams, despite playing in a conference with Division I schools, would be prohibited from providing an additional $2,000 to its full-ride scholarship athletes.
The NCAA informed Off the Block via email Thursday that its newly adopted scholarship policy only applies to Division I schools, and Division II schools regardless of conference affiliations would be ineligible from giving their players the extra benefit.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted last week to allow schools to provide full-scholarship athletes up to an extra $2,000 for cost-of-living expenses. Schools would not be required to add the benefit, but the NCAA requested that conferences consider common applications.
Men’s volleyball has a Division I-II NCAA classification with schools from both divisions competing for the same NCAA championship. Three of the four Division I-II men’s volleyball conferences — the EIVA, MIVA and MPSF — each have Division I and Division II members.
The seven-team MIVA has three Division II members with Grand Canyon, Lewis and Quincy. Rutgers-Newark from the eight-team EIVA and UC San Diego from the 12-team MPSF are also Division II men’s volleyball teams.
In addition, Cal Baptist is an independent team beginning its first season at the Division II level, while Lindenwood is also starting the transition from the NAIA to Division II.
After the NCAA established its new scholarship policy, the MIVA and MPSF said it would wait for more information before discussing any common applications among its members.
The NCAA stated in its email to Off the Block that conferences are not required to establish common practices. If a conference does not implement regulations on the new scholarship policy, it will be left to each Division I school to decide how it wants to implement to extra benefit.
Men’s volleyball teams are limited to 4.5 scholarships per school year.
Two Division II schools, Lewis and UC San Diego, ended last season nationally ranked in the top 15 coaches poll.
A Division I team has won all but one NCAA championship since men’s volleyball became an NCAA sanctioned sport in 1970.