There isn’t a single, fixed number for all Division I college football programs because the count depends on whether you’re looking at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) or the broader Division I including the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and other factors that shift with realignment. Here’s the current, practical breakdown:

• FBS (the top tier that competes for bowls and CFP): about 130–136 programs, with 136 commonly cited for the 2024–2025 period depending on conference changes and transitions.
• FCS (the subdivision that crowns its own national champion through a playoff): roughly 120–130 programs, with exact counts fluctuating as schools move in and out of the subdivision.
• Overall Division I football programs: typically in the range of 260–270 total, accounting for both FBS and FCS programs.

If you want a precise, up-to-date count for a specific season (e.g., 2025), I can pull the latest figures from NCAA or credible sources and give you the exact numbers for FBS, FCS, and total Division I programs. Would you like me to fetch the latest counts and cite the sources?