Scholarships at College
How much funding is available in terms of sports scholarships at college? How do I go about obtaining a sports scholarship? What type of scholarship funding is available? In order to give you a greater insight in to how scholarships work, all these questions and more will be explained below!
Scholarship amounts will differ between each person. Scholarship packages are made up from more than one source of funding and put together in various combinations:
- Sports scholarships (also known as ‘Athletic Scholarships’ and provided by the team coach).
- Academic scholarships (awarded by the college itself based on your GPA and SAT/ACT scores).
- International Scholarship (given to students that are non-US citizens to encourage a more diverse college campus).
Sports Scholarship
Sports scholarship, also referred to as ‘Athletic scholarship’ is offered by the college’s Head Coach of your respective sport. The coach will determine how much he/she wishes to make available to you, based on your level of ability, how much of an impact you could have on their team, and how much they need someone in your position/event.
It is very much down to the coach’s opinion; some will be extremely keen on you as a player, whereas others may not think you’re the right fit for them. Athleticademix have a vast network of coaches that we constantly communicate with, ensuring that we can promote our clients to the coaches that are not only looking for a player in your mould, but also still have funds to spend!
The coach has a set amount in their budget each year to recruit athletes with. Once this budget is spent, there is no more funding to make available until the following year!
Academic Scholarship
Academic Scholarship funding is provided by the college itself and it is easier to determine how much you may receive because the qualifying thresholds are stated on each and every college website. Put simply, the higher your GPA (average grades from High School/Sixth Form/College) and the higher your SAT/ACT score, the more likely you will receive better academic scholarship funding. Read more on the SAT Test here!
Some colleges have a higher minimum requirement for entry and therefore academic scholarship, just like universities in the UK may require stronger grades for admission.
Academic scholarship is a crucial component in making a school affordable for you. Athletic coaches will also be relying on you scoring well in the SAT/ACT to help boost the overall scholarship package. After all, the higher the academic scholarship you earn, the less money they need to spend from their budget to get you on board!
International Scholarship
The ‘International Scholarship’ is usually a smaller amount of money, but important nonetheless! It is offered by many schools to encourage more foreign students to enrol and make the college campus more diverse. You do not need to do anything for this scholarship. The fact that you are a non-US citizen is enough to qualify you for these extra funds!
Read more about the breakdown of a Scholarship here!
Locker Room Facilities at the University of Texas, Austin
SCHOLARSHIP PACKAGE
Your scholarship package is a combination of sports, academic and international scholarship funding. It aims to cover all (or as much as possible) of your Tuition Fees as a priority. Secondly, it is then used to cover as much of the Room and Board (accommodation and meal plan) costs as possible. Lastly, if you have enough scholarship funding leftover, it will cover the costs of your Textbooks and Health Insurance. Once your scholarship funding has covered as much of the costs as possible, you are left to pay for what is left (known as your ‘remaining costs’).
Example
Nova Southeastern University costs $40,000 per year (total). You receive a scholarship package which covers 75% of these costs, which in this case means $30,000 out of $40,000. The $30,000 of scholarship funding is used to first cover your Tuition, then as much of your Room & Board and Textbooks as possible. The $10,000 remainder is what you and your family are left to pay each year. This is known as your ‘remaining cost’ after scholarship has been added.
Regardless of whether you have remaining costs, or you are awarded a full scholarship (everything paid for by the college), once you are with your college team, all game travel, hotels, team meals and kit is included and provided for free. Some schools even provide boots, training shoes, GK gloves and other accessories depending on sponsorship deals the college has in place!
*It is worth noting that scholarship funding is renewed on a yearly basis. However, your scholarship should never be reduced unless you fail to comply with team/school rules, drop out of school or quit the team. It can be increased if you perform well and earn more scholarship, both as an athlete and in the classroom!
Soccer Stadium at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
IS SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING THE SAME ACROSS ALL SPORTS AND DIVISIONS?
Within each division, there are restrictions on how many athletic scholarships a college team may award. For example, all women’s soccer teams in NCAA D1 can offer a maximum of 14 full sports scholarships, while in NCAA D2, women’s soccer teams may only issue 9.9 sports scholarships.
The Head Coach of each team will divide the number of full scholarships in whichever way he/she sees fit. If you are able to obtain an academic scholarship worth 50% of your total costs, then in the coach only needs to give you 0.25 or 0.50 of a full scholarship to bring you to 75% or 100% overall. Therefore it is important once again to remember that your hard work in the classroom will pay off just as much as your efforts on the sports field!
The total number of sports scholarships available will alter each year depending on players joining and graduating. For example, a player with a 100% athletic scholarship graduates in May, so the coach then has that former player’s scholarship available to offer a new player the following August.
Below we have detailed how much scholarship funding is available (as a maximum) per team for male and female athletes in different sports:
SOCCER SCHOLARSHIPS
NCAA D1 – Women: 14.0, Men: 9.9
NCAA D2 – Women: 9.9, Men: 9.0
NAIA – Women 12.0, Men: 12.0
Read more about playing soccer at college.
GOLF SCHOLARSHIPS
NCAA D1 – Women: 6.0, Men: 4.5
NCAA D2 – Women: 5.4, Men: 3.6
NAIA – Women: 5.0, Men: 5.0
Read more about playing golf at college.
SWIMMING SCHOLARSHIPS
NCAA D1 – Women: 14.0, Men: 9.9
NCAA D2 – Women: 8.1, Men: 8.1
NAIA – Women: 8.0, Men: 8.0
Read more about swimming at college.
TRACK & FIELD SCHOLARSHIPS
NCAA D1 – Women: 12.6, Men: 12.6
NCAA D2 – Women: 12.6, Men: 12.6
NAIA – Women: 12.0, Men: 12.0
Read more about track & field at college.
TENNIS SCHOLARSHIPS
NCAA D1 – Women: 8.0, Men: 4.5
NCAA D2 – Women: 6.0, Men: 4.5
NAIA – Women: 5.0, Men: 5.0
Read more about playing tennis at college.
Swimmer at University of Cincinnatti
For more inside knowledge and tips on how to maximise your scholarship options, read these blog articles below: