College is expensive. I mean, really, really expensive, and growing more so all the time. There are scholarship and financial aid options out there, which we’ve covered before, but athletic scholarships are their own animal, and the rules and regulations around them are byzantine even by the standards of college admissions.
In this article, therefore, we’re going to cover the ins and outs of athletic scholarships. We’ll discuss what they are, who can get them, how much money you can expect to get, and what you have to do to keep getting that money. We’ll also cover how scholarships impact the recruiting process, which we cover in much more depth in our extended guide for athletes. Let’s get started!
What are Athletic Scholarships?
Technically, athletic scholarships are a type of merit aid. While merit aid is generally conceived of as given to students for academic excellence, it is available to any students with considerable talents (i.e. merit) that the university wants to attract. Thus merit scholarships can be given to artists, musicians, and athletes.
Athletic scholarships are governed by rules that other merit scholarships are not because of the NCAA. This is the governing body of all college athletics, and exists to enforce safety regulations, ensure government rules are followed, and try to make sure colleges do not have an unfair advantage when recruiting players. Most of the rules on athletic scholarships come because of NCAA regulations.
As with all scholarships, athletic scholarships can be for full or partial tuition. Full scholarships can also cover housing, books, and living expenses in some cases. Partial scholarships are significantly more common; this is because of how these scholarships are managed: a system called equivalency.
What are Equivalency Scholarships?
Athletic scholarships are divided into two categories: equivalency and head count. Head count scholarships are always for full tuition, and are only granted for certain sports. These are the revenue positive sports, where colleges make money on them generally. There are a limited total number of scholarships which may be given for each of these sports. Head count sports are:
- Men’s basketball and Division IA football
- Women’s basketball, tennis, volleyball, and gymnastics
All other sports are olympic, which means they don’t make any money for the school, and are generally subsidized through income from the basketball and football programs. These sports have equivalency scholarships, where they have a total number of scholarship dollars which are equivalent to X number of full ride scholarships.
For example, men’s DI track and field has 12.6 equivalency scholarships. This means they could give 12 students a full ride scholarship, or 25ish students each a ½ scholarship, or some admixture of those. For these sports, full ride scholarships are significantly less common, but more students receive a partial scholarship.
Finally, note that only DI and DII schools are permitted to offer athletic scholarships. DIII schools recruit athletes, but if you’re an athlete at a DIII school, any scholarship money you get will come from other sources. While the Ivy League schools are DI, they do not offer athletic scholarships at all. This is due to a binding compromise amongst themselves, since the Ivy League exists primarily as an athletic conference.
How are Athletic Scholarships Awarded?
Coaches want to be strategic with their scholarship dollars, especially with equivalency scholarships. For head count scholarships, the best players they can recruit get scholarships; it’s a simple process. Equivalency scholarships tend to give more money to more sought after players.
Thus if a coach is building a softball team, the star pitcher may receive an almost full scholarship, the best hitter will get half off tuition, and the outfielders will have to split what’s left. These are a recruiting tool for coaches; a way to get talented players to commit to their program over a rival.
The very best players can and do entertain scholarship offers from different schools, and can play them off of each other in order to try and increase the value of their award. While this is not the case for most athletes, it is a perk for some. Note that there is a maximum amount on these scholarships; schools can’t go above full tuition and expenses.
Scholarships are awarded on a year by year basis, and are generally contingent on you participating in the sport. If you decide to leave the team, you lose the scholarship money as well. Coaches can choose to renew scholarships each year, but may not based on your level of play. Students who are unable to play due to injury may lose their scholarship, but the policies on this depend on the school in question, as these are set by each university. Losing your ability to play for academic reasons will also see the loss of your scholarship, unless you are able to rectify the situation quickly.
When coaches are recruiting students, they will often make verbal scholarship offers. These are worth the paper they are written on (which is to say, nothing at all). While a verbal scholarship offer is nice, it can be rescinded at any time; only offers in writing are binding. Avoid committing to a school on the basis of a verbal scholarship offer alone (a verbal commitment is fine; we cover how these work in our guide for athletes).
A Note on Title IX
Title IX prohibits gender discrimination in federally funded educational programs, which includes all colleges and universities which are part of the NCAA. Because of this, sports need parity in financing, specifically in scholarships. That’s not to say they always receive it; there have been constant fights over the protections afforded by the law.
That said, on paper, universities need to provide the same amount of scholarship dollars to athletes of both genders. Because football is by far the most popular sport, and offers the most scholarships, and is only available to men, many women’s sports are able to offer more scholarships than their male counterparts.
This does not necessarily make it easier to get scholarship dollars for women athletes, but they do get more chances, and have more dollars available outside of football. If you look into the number of scholarships available for your sport, and see a major disparity here, this is the cause.
Non Scholarship Funding
As a student athlete, there are limits on what funding you can get from the school or otherwise. These rules are updated, but be wary of accepting gifts, as these can run afoul of NCAA rules, and lead to you losing your athletic eligibility. Here are the specific rules on what you cannot accept as gifts.
That said, you can receive scholarships from a university on top of athletic scholarships, including both need and merit based aid. This is only a concern for athletes receiving equivalency scholarships; students receiving head count scholarships already have a full ride, and do not need additional funding. Getting these scholarships requires standard financial aid applications, and is entirely separate from your athletic scholarships.
Thanks to a recent ruling, college athletes are now entitled to license their image, and receive compensation based on it so long as it doesn’t come from the college or athletic department. Top football and basketball players are making money on Cameo or doing commercials, but this generally only holds true for the very top percentage of players. While this is available to you, most athletes do not have the name recognition to make any money in this way.
College Athletes as Employees
Recent developments have raised the question as to whether or not college athletes can or should count as employees under the law. This is, understandably, a contentious topic, and the full ramifications of any decision on this are uncertain. That said, there are a few things we know currently, and can say on the topic.
The first is that nothing is going to change in the immediate future. While a case has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the wheels of government are not known for turning quickly. You can expect up to 18 months of investigation and hearings before a ruling is issued. From there, there are several options, depending on how far the ruling goes, and what it decides.
While the NCAA has long insisted that college athletes are students first, that doesn’t seem entirely accurate in most cases. Whether or not there’s any way to change this system without it collapsing, as some dire predictions suggest will happen, remains to be seen.
While this may impact the future of college sports, it won’t have much beyond ripple effects at present. If you are a current or future college athlete then these rulings are worth keeping an ear out for, but not losing sleep over. Whatever is decided will likely have a major impact on you, but should come about slowly enough to give you time to prepare well in advance.
There has been and will continue to be a lot of ink spilled over this, as the stakeholders and invested parties battle it out in the press. In the end, the courts will decide, and we’ll all have to adapt from there.
Final Thoughts
College sports have a long and storied tradition, and being an athlete is a major part of many students’ experience at college. While the structures of athletic scholarships are convoluted even by the standards of collegiate financial aid, we hope this article provided a solid explanation for how they work, and what you can expect when attempting to obtain an athletic scholarship.
Of course, student athletes are students too, and are still evaluated for their academic potential. If you want advice on getting in as a strong student, getting recruited as a potential star player, or any combination thereof, schedule a free consultation today. We have years of experience working with students, and are always happy to hear from you.
