UPDATE 5/17/12 @ 2:05 p.m.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Old Dominion is leaving the Colonial Athletic Association and joining Conference USA.

School President John R. Broderick said in a release Thursday that the move will be effective July 1, 2013.

It means the Monarchs, who began playing football only three seasons ago, will play at the Bowl Subdivision level after one more year in the Championship Subdivision.

The move will be costly for Old Dominion, which will have to add football scholarships, but Broderick says Monarchs boosters have already pledged $3 million in private support to help meet those expenses. The president also says the move will be made without increasing student fees.

The Monarchs become the second school to leave the CAA this week. VCU announced Tuesday that it is heading to the Atlantic 10 in July, 2012.

The Roadrunners went 4-6 in their inaugural football season as
an independent in FCS last year, but the program has sought to
accelerate its national profile. The school will play in the
Western Athletic Conference this year.

The regents unanimously approved the move on Thursday. UTSA will incur no exit fees for leaving the WAC and pay a $2 million initiation fee to C-USA.

Conference USA is losing Houston, SMU, Memphis and Central
Florida. The remaining schools are Texas-El Paso, Tulane,
Alabama-Birmingham, East Carolina, Marshall, Rice, Southern Missand Tulsa.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated
Press because an announcement has not yet been made. The university has scheduled a Friday news conference.

The 49ers were in Conference USA from 1995 to 2005 but had to leave because they didn't have a football team. They joined the Atlantic 10 and will spend next year there before making the
switch.

The decision is football driven. Charlotte begins playing
football in 2013 as an FCS independent and will remain at that
level for two years. Providing it can meet NCAA attendance
standards it will be allowed to move up to an FBS school in
2015-16.