Athletic Scholarships: Going for Gold

Each year, the NCAA awards more than $1 billion in athletic scholarships to students who participate in college athletics or who are pursuing an athletics-related career.

Want to snag some of the jackpot?

You can’t get the gold if you don’t try. Read CampusCompare’s athletic tips and stay ahead of the game.

If you don’t try you won’t succeed

O.K. Let’s be honest. Getting an athletic scholarship is really competitive. More competitive than playing the sport…well, maybe!

But you don’t have to be in the top 5% of your sport to be offered an athletic scholarship. In fact, there are many different types of athletic scholarships out there. You might not necessarily be offered a full-ride sports scholarship that pays for your entire college education, including tuition and room and board, but you may still get a partial scholarship that you can team up with other forms of financial aid.

So bottom line: College coaches can’t recruit you and offer you money if they don’t know you are out there. Check out our blog on applying to college as a student athlete for tips on how to submit an athletic profile to college coaches.

Playing the Field: Sport Scholarship Options

The NCAA awards around $1 billion in athletic scholarships each year and over 126,000 student-athletes receive either a partial or full athletic scholarship. Athletic scholarships for undergraduate student-athletes at Division 1 and Division 2 schools are partially funded through the NCAA membership revenue distribution. However, these scholarships are awarded and administered directly by each academic institution, not the NCAA. Division 3 schools offer only academic scholarships and not athletic scholarships.

More than 90 % of NAIA institutions offer athletic scholarships. NAIA  scholarships are offered for men in the following sports: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Soccer, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & field, Wrestling and for women in: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track and Field & Volleyball.

NJCAA Division 1 and Division 2 schools can offer athletic scholarships, but division 3 colleges do not.
Keep in mind that individual colleges and conferences have their own athletic scholarship rules and policies. So make sure you check with the schools that you are applying  so you don’t forfeit your game early on.
 
Keep your eyes on the Ball

• Don’t believe the media hype- there is actually no such thing as a four-year athletic scholarship. All NCAA athletic scholarships must be renewed and are not guaranteed year to year.
• Basically, in order to be eligible you not only need athletic talent- but you need good grades. Test scores and your class rank may be what tip the odds for an athletic scholarship in your favor.
• Even if you’re a grade A athlete, you are most likely to get a scholarship worth 15-20% of your college bill.  Tuition and room and board from NCAA colleges often cost between $20,000 and $50,000 a year and in sports like baseball and track and field the average scholarship is usually as low as $2000.

 To sum up

Those are our few cents on athletic scholarships- the myths and the realities- to help you get some cents of your own.

POSTED BY Reisa Resource IN Athletics and Admissions

04.25.08

TAGS: Athletic scholarships

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 9:14 am and is filed under Athletics and Admissions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.