LANCASTER, Pa. –Franklin & Marshall, a multidivisional institution that sponsors NCAA Division I wrestling and 24 Division III teams (28 total varsity sports), will now provide athletic scholarships to qualifying wrestling student-athletes as a result of recently adopted NCAA legislation. This new legislation makes it permissible for multi-divisional institutions to apply all Division I rules, including financial aid, to their Division I programs.
The College has also announced a plan that would enable women's squash to receive athletic scholarships in the near future.
"The landscape of the NCAA is changing in many ways," explained Director of Athletics and Recreation Lauren Packer Webster. "Providing this opportunity will positively impact our ability to recruit academically qualified student-athletes who want to compete at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics and contribute to F&M's rich tradition of excellence."
Harnessing the passion and philanthropic power of F&M alumni and fans, a campaign to establish an endowment will provide funds needed in perpetuity for athletic scholarships. Individuals who are interested in contributing to endowments that support athletic scholarships should contact Katie Crowe Wood, director of parent and athletic advancement at 717-358-4834 or katie.wood@fandm.edu.
With this recently passed legislation, F&M will be one of 10 Division III institutions with Division I sports that can provide athletically-related financial aid. In addition to Franklin & Marshall wrestling, those teams include Johns Hopkins (men's and women's lacrosse), Colorado College (men's ice hockey and women's soccer), Clarkson (men's and women's ice hockey), Hobart (men's lacrosse), MIT (women's rowing), RIT (men's and women's ice hockey), RPI (men's and women's ice hockey), St. Lawrence (men's and women's ice hockey), and Union (men's and women's ice hockey).

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About Diplomats Wrestling:
The Diplomats' wrestling program will celebrate its 100th anniversary during the upcoming 2023-24 season and has primarily competed at the Division I level since its varsity debut in the fall of 1923. Franklin & Marshall joined the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) during the 1947-48 season and has been a proud member of the oldest wrestling conference since that year.
The EIWA is currently the largest conference in Division I wrestling with 17 teams and is home to several other high academic institutions from both the Ivy (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, Princeton) and Patriot (Army, American, Bucknell, Lehigh, Navy) Leagues. The EIWA also features wrestlers from Binghamton, Drexel, Hofstra, LIU, and Sacred Heart.
F&M wrestling already boasts a proud tradition of success that includes 693 dual meet victories, nine undefeated seasons, four individual national champions, 16 All-Americans, 99 NCAA qualifiers, 10 EIWA Champions, and 108 EIWA place winners. In addition to the team's success on the mats, the Diplomats have had nine Scholar All-Americans and constantly rank as one of the top-performing academic teams in the country. That success was most recently highlighted by the team posting the 13th-highest cumulative GPA in the country last season, featuring a school-record four Scholar All-Americans and five EIWA Academic Achievement honorees.

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About Diplomats Women's Squash:
Women's squash debuted as a varsity sport at Franklin & Marshall during the 1974-75 academic year and has compiled 388 dual meet victories during its first 49 seasons as a varsity program. The College Squash Association allows each member institution to determine intercollegiate eligibility for its squash programs in accordance with NCAA rules. As a multi-divisional NCAA institution, F&M can sponsor one men's and one women's team in a different division than its primary Division III status.
As members of the College Squash Association, the Diplomats already compete at the national championships against varsity programs across Divisions I, II, and III. Those schools include national powers from the Ivy League and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Faced with this top-level competition, the Diplomats have had 22 student-athletes recognized as All-Americans and constantly rank among the top 20 teams nationally. Of special distinction to the program is that the Epps Cupp is named in honor of former coach and athletic director Patricia S.W. Epps.
Another exciting development for the squash team has been the Diplomats becoming one of the founding members of the Mid Atlantic Squash Conference (MASC) which held its first season during the 2018-19 academic year. In February of this year, the College Squash Association fully recognized this MASC as a sanctioned squash conference. With that announcement, the MASC joined the Ivy League, Liberty League, and NESCAC as current conferences which sponsor squash championship events. Current MASC member institutions that the Diplomats compete against include Stanford, Virginia, Drexel, Georgetown, MIT, Navy, and Dickinson.