The relationship between higher education and intercollegiate athletics is one that is nurtured by both empirical and anecdotal evidence. This evidence, however, paints a convoluted picture. Past research has shown a mixed relationship between athletics and such measures as alumni donations (i.e. Daughtery & Stotlar, 2000; Gaski & Etzel, 1984), admissions (Toma & Cross, 1998), and academic preparation of the student body (Tucker, 1992). Research has also examined the direct impact upon student-athletes utilizing such outcomes as graduation rates (Rishe, 2003), cognition (Pascarella, Bohr, Nora, & Terenzini, 1995) and college adjustment (Melendez, 2006), among others. What lacks from the landscape of literature is empirical data exploring the potential connection between athletics on campus and a sense of community, a salient topic in both higher education (e.g. Boyer, 1990, Lounsbury & DeNeui, 1995) and greater society (e.g. Putnam, 2000), the former being connected with deeper college satisfaction (Manns, 2002) and improved rates of matriculation towards graduation (McCarthy et al., 1990). Thus, this study was constructed to explore the potential of the athletics experience upon enhancing a sense of community amongst its participants. It was hypothesized that student-athletes would register higher perceived levels of a sense of community than would their non-athlete counterparts. Data, then, were collected through the annual College Student Survey (CSS), as administered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). A total of 15,735 respondents completed the annual surveys for a response rate of 59.4%. Subjects were taken from institutions across all three NCAA divisions and from the NAIA level. To explore the research question, a multivariate analysis of variance was conducted using the gender of the respondent, athlete status, and the level of the university (NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA). Further, variables were included to control for the presence of BCS status, the amount of hours spent socializing with friends, and if the respondents lived on or off campus. Results indicated a significant interaction occurred between athlete status and institutional level (Wilks Lambda F[6,31430]=5.89, p<.001), with athletes perceiving a higher sense of community than non-athletes at each institutional level save for NAIA. The data suggest that while intercollegiate athletics possess the ability to build or enhance a sense of community amongst the participants, this notion is specific to institutional level. Additional research is suggested to continue the exploration into building a sense of community on campuses and within college sport.Keyword(s): administration/mgmt, college level issues, sport management