What is the difference between NCAA and NAIA?
They have different Academic criteria and rules for entry. NAIA are normally smaller private institutions. In terms of soccer, the difference at the top level in standards is very little. A lot of the NAIA teams are very strong and could compete quite easily in the NCAA. The main thing that sets the NCAA apart from the NAIA is that most NCAA D1 colleges have a very large student popultation, some such as Ohio State have more than 40,000 students! Compare this to the NAIA where the average number of students is roughly 2,000.
