An argument for athletic spending at Division 3 (and to some extent, Division 2) schools is that it is an important student recruiting device: at some liberal arts schools, 30-40 percent of students are on some intercollegiate team, and the figure is 10 percent or so at some Division 2 schools (as opposed to well under 5 percent at most FBS powerhouses).
It would appear, however, that total athletic spending at the Division 2 schools well exceeds one billion dollars a year, and probably two billion dollars annually for Division II and III combined.