Understanding Athletic Scholarships

While millions of young athletes dream of making it to the college or university of their dreams and playing the sport they love, there are many questions along the way. Only a small percentage of the top athletes in each sport are offered athletic scholarships and then even a smaller amount are offered a full ride scholarship.

Athletic scholarships are offered at the collegiate level as an incentive and an aid for student-athletes to attend a college or university they may not otherwise be able to attend or to devote a large amount of time playing on a team instead of working at a part-time job.

There are a lot of different rules focused on recruiting and the offering of athletic scholarships to protect the student and provide a fair system between the schools. Depending on the league and division level, different schools may be allowed to offer differing amounts of athletic scholarships for different sports.

What To Expect With an Athletic Scholarship

Receiving any athletic scholarship is an exciting proposition because you’re being rewarded for doing something you already love – playing a sport that you enjoy for your school team! But an athletic scholarship does come with some strings and you should consider that as well.

1. An athletic scholarship may come in different dollar amounts. A full ride scholarship covers all expenses associated with attending college, even room and board. If you are receiving less than a full ride there can be any range of amount offered.
2. An athletic scholarship usually requires you to continue taking a certain number of classes with a minimum level GPA to continue receiving your scholarship in the future. To continue as a student-athlete you must be in good standing as a student, so you have to keep your grades up, even while devoting considerable time to your training and competing as an athlete.
3. An athletic sholarship will require a time commitment other students won’t have. It really is a trade and although it’s usually a good deal, in some cases you may decide the value that the scholarship is worth may not be worth the time cost. You have an opportunity cost to weigh and decide if it’s right for you.

All of these could be viewed as negative aspects of receiving an athletic scholarship, but they are reasonable and really shouldn’t diminish what you are being awarded. The one factor I would encourage athletes and their families to consider is whether the dollar value of the award is worth any sacrifices you feel you are giving up. If you are not on a full ride scholarship, the dollar value really could be any amount, and it may not be worth the time commitment or other compromises you may be making IF those aren’t choices you would like to make anyways.

How To Ask For More Athletic Scholarship Money

During the recruiting process, there are several steps where you may not feel comfortable and that’s okay. One of these situations is once you’ve received an offer and it may not be for the amount of money you were hoping for.

Asking for more athletic scholarship money is something you certainly CAN do, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. Handling this poorly could cause your offering coach to reconsider their offer completely.

1. Whatever the initial offer, genuinely thank the coach for their offer and their interest in you. Even if you are underwhelmed by the initial dollar amount, this is a huge step. You just had a school offer to pay you to play for them! Even if you don’t accept this offer, it’s a major compliment, so thank them genuinely.
2. It is perfectly reasonable in all cases to ask the coach for time to consider their offer. Your coach will expect this and probably have a date in mind that they need you to give them an answer by. Ask them how long you and your family can consider this before making a commitment.
3. You may discuss your offer with other schools that are still on your target list that are still interested, this may prompt them to match or beat your current offer. When you reach out to other coaches and let them know about the offer you’ve received, the conversation should go 1 of 2 ways. Either they will congratulate you and encourage you to take that offer, or they will consider matching or beating it. Either way, you’ll know where you really stand with that coach pretty quickly.
4. If you decide to ask for more money from a coach, you want to carefully choose your words. This can make a HUGE difference in the sentiment that you’re conveying to the coach. Be honest, polite, and respectful, and focus on the expected family contribution number more than the scholarship dollar value. This is the amount of money that’s left over for you and your family to pay. Coaches understand that this out-of-pocket expense is real money that you’ll need to borrow or pay to attend their school.

If you’re serious about playing in college, check out this article next.

Athletic Booster Scholarship

Booster clubs may, in some cases, offer scholarships for student-athletes towards their college or university careers. These should be awarded and announced during or after graduation from their high school. These scholarships are not usually tied to any particular school but are meant as an award to the athlete and a benefit that will help with their future regardless of where they choose to attend.

Positive Athlete Scholarship

You may have heard of a scholarship called the Positive Athlete Scholarship.

This program was started by Hines Ward, a Super Bowl MVP, and each year awards scholarships based on character. Student-athletes can be nominated by parents, coaches, teachers, administrators, or fans of high school student-athletes grades 9-12.

They are looking for athletes who have overcome difficult circumstances, given back to their schools and communities, or just have an infectiously positive attitude.

If you would like to nominate an athlete, visit their site here.

Asthma Athlete of the Year Scholarship

It may surprise you how many very specific and unique scholarships are offered for different reasons. One of these categories that are on the fringe of athletics is for athletes that have a history of asthma.

You can find a few links to some of these scholarships in the resources section below.

WPIAL Scholar Athletic Scholarship

WPIAL stands for WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC LEAGUE and they offer athletic scholarships.

If you would like to apply you can find out more by visiting their site here.

Athletic Training Scholarships

Closely related to an athletic scholarship, you may be interested in scholarships for students that are studying athletic training. These are awarded to students during graduate programs, working to earn Master’s degrees or higher.

Neumann University has written a very helpful resource to guide you and you can find that here.

Transgender Athletic Scholarships

This is an area that many people wonder and speculate about, especially if you or your athlete are female. Will transgender athletes affect the number of positions and scholarships available to everyone else and who will be allowed to compete on which teams?

It’s helpful to know that the NCAA has had a very reasonable policy in place for years now and you can access the official policy linked below in the resources. A helpful synopsis that breaks it down very simply can be found here on transathlete.com.

Athletic Scholarships in Canada

A misconception that’s pretty common about sports in Canada, is that Canadian schools don’t offer athletes scholarships to play at the collegiate level. The Canadian system does allow for athletic scholarships, but the details are not as systematic and rigid as the scholarship system throughout the USA.

Actually, there are many differences between the Canadian post-secondary schooling system which can make it difficult for interested student-athletes to compare.

• The educational requirements. While the American education system relies on the ACT as a major consideration for your entrance into college or university, countries like Canada typically consider the SAT.

• The difference in the cost to attend. While the schools throughout the USA range from very low in Junior Colleges or Community Colleges to incredibly high, the majority of schools in Canada tend to cost in the $5,000 to $6,000 range per year, during the time of this writing. When you compare that to a typical American school charging $25,000 to $40,000, you have to ask yourself just how large a scholarship it would take to offset that cost.

• Will there be more cost to travel? If you are considering attending internationally, will there be added cost whenever you travel to and from school? How often will you be planning to travel home? And will you end up persuing residency and have the added cost and hassle of applying and qualifying for work visa or residency status?

If you haven’t already, take the time to review our Complete Recruiting Guide today.

Resources:

Asthma Scholarships

https://www.cdryouthasthma.org/scholarship

Transgender Resources

NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes Policy 2011

NAIA Transgender Policy

Canadian Athletic Scholarships

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_scholarship