Why You Shouldn't Expect a Full Ride for College Sports

Most college athletes don't receive athletic scholarships because these scholarships are the exception not the rule. Here's why you shouldn't rely on them.

The reality is that most college athletes do not have athletic scholarships. College athletic scholarships are the exception rather than the rule. Most people have it the other way around, and it's not hard to understand why. After all, how often do we watch some televised college sports event where the commentators talk about how some player started off playing for the team without any scholarship but earned one because of his outstanding performance on the playing field? It makes it sound like everyone else has a scholarship, right? Nope. This may be true in the money sports we see on TV, but the reality is that approximately only 2% of high school athletes receive scholarships to play in college. Making the college team is not the same thing as receiving a scholarship for three simple reasons.

D-III schools don’t offer athletic scholarships

The largest division in the NCAA, Division III, does not offer athletic scholarships. Over a third of all student-athletes play at the D-III level, which is a major reason why only 2% of all high school athletes go off to college without any athletic scholarships. This doesn't mean that D-III athletes don't have any scholarships; they just don't have athletic ones. So if you’re anticipating playing D-III—or even D-II—make sure to do your research and find scholarships for other talents, skills, and experiences to supplement for what you won’t get for athletics to pay for your college costs.

Related: The College Sports Glossary of Terms

Most sports are equivalency sports

There are two types of sports in the NCAA: equivalency sports and head count sports. Head count sports offer full scholarships to players, while equivalency sports are allowed to divide one scholarship among multiple players. For example, one player may receive a 50% scholarship while two others get 25% each. There are only six head count sports in the NCAA: football, men's and women's basketball, women's tennis, women's gymnastics, and women's volleyball. All other sports are equivalency sports. Given that in most sports, teams carry rosters two to three times the number of allowed scholarships, it is very unlikely to get a full-ride scholarship in an equivalency sport.

Scholarships are not fully funded

The NCAA and NAIA set maximum limits on the number of scholarships colleges can offer, but  they also don’t require the schools to fully fund them. This isn't something frequently talked about but something prospects will encounter as they start talking to coaches. For instance, can you see the problem of requiring college baseball coaches to provide a minimum of a 25% scholarship while they may only have three of their allowed 11.7 scholarships funded. And we're talking at D-I schools here. So bear in mind, coaches are in tight a spot as you when it comes to funds and how they can properly disperse them to college athletes.

Related: Ultimate Scholarship Guide: Searching for Scholarships

There's nothing wrong with pursuing sports in college—but a lot of student-athletes are uninformed as to how it works, and that makes it harder to be realistic. For many students, collegiate athletics offers structure, challenge, and socialization while doing something they love. They don't want to quit playing, and that’s great. But players should be realistic about the chances of their sport actually paying their tuition bill.

For more advice to help you on your student-athlete journey, check out the blogs and articles in our College Athletics section.

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress
Ruth Aguilar

Ruth Aguilar

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress helped me by providing me with many scholarship opportunities and information about universities I want to attend. What I love about CollgeXpress is how it provides a variety of information, and as the first child attending a university next year, it has been very essential and helpful. I’m so grateful for this because the information provided by CollegeXpress has also helped me see that there are so many college opportunities, and it always informs me by email. In other words, CollegeXpress has been like a guide for me as a future college student.

Carlie Cadet

Carlie Cadet

High School Class of 2019

CollegeXpress has helped me learn about an abundance of scholarships available to me and my situation. I was able to do research for colleges in my best interest with your website. I've had multiple colleges email me and offer me multiple scholarships and things of that nature because of this website! Thank you so much for uploading scholarships I didn’t even know existed, even if my life took a huge turn and I wasn’t able to go to college straight out of high school. CollegeXpress helped me a lot in high school to be even more motivated to get into my dream college (which I did, by the way). I'm looking forward to using the materials CollegeXpress has kindly provided me for free to look for scholarships to help pay for college.

Joseph Johnsly

Joseph Johnsly

High School Class of 2021

It's an honor for me to be writing to share a little about my experience with CollegeXpress. I've been using CollegeXpress for about a year now, and the reason why I chose it is because it provides astonishing scholarships for every student around the globe. Besides that, this organization dispenses all the information necessary to help students get to college. CollegeXpress has helped me have an easier experience with applying to colleges and choosing the best fit for myself.

Casey Kammeyer

Casey Kammeyer

$500 Refer-A-Friend Scholarship Winner

I love the site CollegeXpress; it has been very helpful finding colleges and getting them to send me information. It has also been very, very helpful with finding tons of scholarships. Also, I told many of my friends about it and they love it as well!

Katelyn

Katelyn

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress gave me options of schools with my major and from there I was able to pick what was most important to me in a school. Everything was so organized that I could see all the information I needed.

College Matches
X

Colleges You May Be Interested In

Ashland University

Ashland, OH

Coe College

Cedar Rapids, IA

Ohio University

Athens, OH

Wagner College

Staten Island, NY