NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions in the United States whose football programs are not members of a football conference. This means that FCS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition as conference schools do.
As of the upcoming 2026 season, two FCS programs will compete as independents: Merrimack has competed as an independent since 2024, when they left the football-sponsoring Northeast Conference (now officially known as NEC) to join the Metro Conference, which does not sponsor football. Chicago State, a full NEC member, will play its first season of varsity football in 2026 as an FCS independent, before joining NEC football in 2027.
Current FCS independents Institution Location Founded Joined Type Enrollment Nickname Colors Primary conferenceChicago State University Chicago, Illinois 1867 2026 Public 2,620 Cougars NECMerrimack College North Andover, Massachusetts 1947 1996 2024 Private(Augustinian) 5,505 Warriors Metro
Former FCS independents The following is a complete list of teams that have been Division I-AA/FCS Independents since the formation of Division I-AA in 1978. The "Current Conference" column indicates affiliations for the 2026 college football season. The years listed in this table are football seasons; since football is a fall sport, this means that the final season of independent status, or membership in a given conference, is the calendar year before a conference change took effect.
Teams in italics are current FBS members; this includes second-year transitional schools that are counted as FBS for scheduling purposes but not bowl game eligibility. Because James Madison met FBS scheduling requirements in its first season in the Sun Belt Conference in 2022 (specifically five home games against FBS opposition), it was allowed to skip the first year of the normal two-year process.