page_title: Higher education in the United States
section_title: Athletics
hierarchical_section_title: Higher education in the United States / Athletics
caption_attribution_description: English: Philadelphia, PA. (Dec. 3, 2005) – U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman fullback Adam Ballard (22) rushes for one of two touchdowns while being persued by Army defenders Cason Shrode (54) and Taylor Justice (42). This was the 106th Army vs. Navy Football game, held for the third consecutive year at Lincoln Financial Field. The Navy defeated the Black Knights of Army 42-23. The Mids have now won the past four Army-Navy battles, and now lead the series at 50-49-7. Navy (7-4) has accepted an invitation to play in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 22. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Johnny Bivera. (RELEASED)
context_page_description: Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education, is also referred as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education. It covers stages 5 to 8 on the International ISCED 2011 scale. It is delivered at 4,360 Title IV degree-granting institutions, known as colleges or universities. These may be public or private universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by several third-party organizations.
  According to the National Center for Education Statistics and National Student Clearinghouse, college enrollment has declined since a peak in 2010–2011 and is projected to continue declining or be stagnant for the next two decades.
  The US is unique in its investment in highly competitive NCAA sports, particularly in American football and basketball, with large sports stadiums and arenas.
context_section_description: College athletics in the US is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes sports sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies. Some of these collegiate sports governing organizations like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) are umbrella non-profit organizations that govern multiple sports. Additionally, the first tier is characterized by selective participation, since only the elite programs in their sport are able to participate; some colleges offer athletic scholarships to intercollegiate sports competitors. The second tier includes intramural and recreational sports clubs, which are available to more of the student body. Competition between student clubs from different colleges, not organized by and therefore not representing the institutions or their faculties, may also be called "intercollegiate" athletics or simply college sports.
  The largest collegiate sport governing body in the first tier is the NCAA, which regulates athletes of 1,268 institutions across the US and Canada. The NCAA uses a three-division system of Division I, Division II, and Division III. Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport, while Division III schools cannot offer any athletic scholarships. Division I schools, which generally are larger than either Division II or III institutions, must further meet additional requirements: among them, they must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at least two team sports for each gender. Each division is then further divided into several conferences for regional league play. The names of these conferences, such as the Ivy League, are also metonyms for their respective schools.
  College sports are popular on regional and national scales, at times competing with professional championships for prime broadcast, print coverage. In most states, the person with the highest taxpayer-provided base salary is a public college football or basketball coach. This does not include coaches at private colleges. The average university sponsors at least 20 different sports and offers a wide variety of intramural sports. There are approximately 400,000 men and women student-athletes that participate in sanctioned athletics each year.
caption: The 2005 Army–Navy Game football match
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