Why would a college change from NAIA to DIV. III

Real quick off the top of my head two main reasons are

 

1.  Prestige - being an NCAA school sounds better than NAIA school.  I played NAIA 

 

2.  Insurance - I don't know the specifics but the NCAA provides a better insurance for their member schools than NAIA.

 

My best friend is a vice president of a NAIA university and they are in the process of moving up to probably DII because of scholarships being offered instead of DIII where they are not.  In your situation the better question is why not go ahead and move up to DII instead of DIII.

Maybe they want to change conferences or join a certain conference.

Maybe they don't want to have to offer scholarships to compete.

This is an unanswerable question with the information given. High academic schools tend to go the D3 route as they are pared against similar institutions. Many are expensive and offset those costs with academic,and other types of aid. There may be more DIII schools in the area, conference alignment might be better,it may be prestige, it may be they want to add more breadth to their athletic offerings.  I am certain that the decision by the school was well thought out and they have their reasons. 

Could you explain what you mean by "add breath to their athletic offerings"?

NCAA has more sanctioned sports than NAIA. The big one is hockey. That would also explain why they wouldn't go D-II, as there is no D-II hockey.

Also with out offering scholarships some of that saved money can go to additional sports.
Couple of questions. Even though NAIA can offer 9 scholly's, was the school in question fully funded? What is the school size compared to d2 and d3 schools in the area?