Are There
Really Athletic Scholarships Available?
You bet there are!
Colleges and athletic departments are very motivated
to attract good athletes to their programs. Athletic
departments are well-funded because winning teams boost
attendance, maintain alumni support and lift student morale.
In fact, a recent USA Today study
("Athletic spending grows as academic funds dry up") shows that
the average
college's athletic budget rose by 25% between 1995 and 2001,
while university spending increased only 10%. While not
everyone on campus is happy about the favoritism towards
the athletic budget, it's good news for
student-athletes.
How many
athletic scholarships are there?
There is even more good news
for those seeking athletic scholarships: Athletic
departments at NCAA colleges spend in
excess of $4 billion per year on their
athletic programs. And roughly one quarter
of their budget($1 billion) is awarded annually as scholarships
to student-athletes!
Over 126,000 student-athletes
receive athletic scholarships each year from NCAA
Division I and II schools alone.
(Division III schools aren't allowed to offer athletic
scholarships, but unofficially compensate by offering other forms
of
non-athletic financial aid to academically and
financially qualifying student-athletes they want to
recruit.)
How many
student-athletes are competing for these scholarships?
NCAA's 1,265 member
colleges and universities report that they have more
than 355,000 student-athletes playing each year.
Approximately 36% of these NCAA student-athletes receive
a share of the $1 billion earmarked for athletic scholarships.
NAIA's 299 colleges and
universities report that they have over 46,000
student-athletes playing each year. Though NAIA doesn't
track scholarship or financial aid statistics, they do
report that over 90% of NAIA institutions
offer athletic scholarships.
What are
the odds of playing at the Collegiate level?
Only outstanding
student-athletes are likely to make the jump from high
school to collegiate play. NCAA recently published
approximate statistics for several sports, comparing
the number of graduating High School athletes
to incoming College Freshman athletes. They show that the number of
NCAA Freshman roster
positions in the surveyed sports runs between 3% and 13%
of graduating High School Senior student-athletes. (Note: these figures don't include
the NAIA colleges or the Junior Colleges.)
| Student-Athletes |
Men’s
Basketball |
Women’s
Basketball |
Football
|
Baseball
|
Men’s Ice Hockey |
Men’s Soccer |
| High School Student-Athletes
|
549,500
|
456,900
|
983,600
|
455,300
|
29,900
|
321,400
|
| High School Senior Student-Athletes
|
157,000
|
130,500
|
281,000
|
130,100
|
8,500
|
91,800
|
| NCAA Student-Athletes (all
divisions) |
15,700
|
14,400
|
56,500
|
25,700
|
3,700
|
18,200
|
| NCAA Freshman Roster Positions
(all divisions) |
4,500
|
4,100
|
16,200
|
7,300
|
1,100
|
5,200
|
| NCAA Senior Student-Athletes (all
divisions) |
3,500
|
3,200
|
12,600
|
5,700
|
800
|
4,100
|
| Percent High School to NCAA (all
divisions) |
2.9%
|
3.1%
|
5.8%
|
5.6%
|
12.9%
|
5.7%
|
What's this mean to you?
If you're a high
school student-athlete who wants to play at the
college level, this means you need to get
noticed by the college athletic recruiters,
you need to stand out, and you need to
sell yourself effectively. That's what the
Recruit-Me System helps you do. |
