The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is one of the strongest NCAA Division III athletic conferences in the nation, and its top teams are always nationally ranked and in the hunt for NCAA championships. The MIAC's 13 private colleges are all members of the NCAA Division III and annually attract many of the nation's top student-athletes. The MIAC is a conference in which the athletes are students first, yet still have the opportunity to reach any height to which their athletic abilities take them. As a result of competing at the NCAA Division III level, no institution in the MIAC offers any athletic scholarships.