NCAA Division I-A independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of a football conference. This does not mean that 1-A independents schedule each other for competition like conference schools do. There are considerably fewer independent schools than in years past; many independent schools later join (or attempt to join) established conferences.
The NCAA Division I-A independent schools for 2004 will be:
- United States Military Academy (Army)
- United States Naval Academy (Navy)
- University of Notre Dame (member of Big East Conference for all other sports)
- Temple University (expelled from football-only membership in Big East)