D1 Schools with Ski & Beach Access
NCAA Division I schools within 10 miles of the ocean and 50 miles of a ski resort
Only 10 NCAA Division I schools in the entire country sit within 10 miles of an ocean beach and within 50 miles of a ski resort. This is the complete list, ranked by enrollment. If your ideal college weekend is a packed stadium on Saturday, a chairlift on Sunday, and a walk on the sand Monday afternoon, these are your options.
The combination is rare for a simple reason: geography. You need a major athletic program sitting on a coastline that also has mountains close behind it, which is why this list clusters on the West Coast and in New England. No school in the middle of the country can qualify, no matter how good its sports are.
Division data comes from NCAA records; enrollment, admissions, and cost figures come from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS). Beach and ski distances are CollegeCove proximity measurements from each campus, shown on every row so you can see exactly what each school trades off.
Ranking methodology: Schools must be NCAA Division I, within 10 miles of the nearest ocean beach, AND within 50 miles of a ski resort. Ranked by total enrollment largest-first.
California State University-Long Beach
Long Beach, CA
University of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
University of California-Irvine
Irvine, CA
Boston University
Boston, MA
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY
Northeastern University
Boston, MA
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, CA
Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, CT
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT
Frequently Asked Questions
How many D1 schools have both beach and ski access?
Exactly 10 NCAA Division I schools are within 10 miles of the ocean and 50 miles of a ski resort. With roughly 350 Division I schools nationwide, fewer than 3 in 100 qualify, which is what makes this list short and worth knowing.
Why does NCAA Division I matter?
Division I is the biggest stage in college sports: televised games, major conference rivalries, and the full game-day atmosphere. If that energy is part of what you want from college, filtering for D1 first and lifestyle second narrows 4,400 schools to a very short list.
What if I want the lifestyle without D1 sports?
See our Surf & Ski Colleges list. Dropping the Division I requirement grows the pool to 109 four-year schools with the same beach and ski access, including smaller campuses and schools that compete in other divisions.
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