She was looking for help identifying schools that were the right match for her athletically, as well as academically. Ally lives in North Andover, Massachusetts and chose to work with Great College Advice to help her find the colleges that were the right fit.

Here she is explaining how it worked…in her own words.

Frequently Asked Questions: Athlete Scholarships

Which athletes receive the biggest college scholarships?

Athletes who combine strong academic credentials with athletic ability receive the largest overall aid packages. Outside of full-ride sports (including men’s football, hockey and basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics), the students who earn the most scholarship money often times are those with the highest grades and test scores.

Do all Division 1 athletes get full athletic scholarships?

No. Full-ride athletic scholarships exist only in a small number of revenue-generating sports. Many D1 programs — especially in Olympic sports like track, swimming, and tennis — divide a limited budget across an entire roster or have a set number of full-ride scholarships to offer top recruits. Some D1 schools offer no athletic scholarship money in certain sports at all.

What is the difference between head-count and equivalency sports?

Head-count sports (mainly football and basketball) allow each scholarship to cover a full ride for one athlete. Equivalency sports (most other NCAA sports) give coaches a total dollar amount that must be divided across the team — so a coach might split one full scholarship across three or four players. This is why most college athletes, even at D1 programs, receive only partial aid.

How much is the average college athletic scholarship?

Across all NCAA and NAIA divisions, the average athletic scholarship for an incoming student-athlete is approximately $12,500 per year. By comparison, the average academic financial aid award in 2024–2025 was nearly $17,000, with $12,000 in grants. Neither figure covers the full cost of attendance at most four-year institutions.

Can a student-athlete get both an athletic and academic scholarship?

Yes, and this is often the most financially advantageous outcome. Coaches actively recruit students with strong academics because they raise the team’s academic standing and reduce compliance risk. Those same students frequently qualify for institutional merit scholarships. The two awards can and do stack, particularly at Division 2 and Division 3 programs.

Do Division 3 athletes receive athletic scholarships?

No. NCAA Division 3 rules prohibit athletic scholarships. However, D3 schools — many of which are highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities — often provide generous merit-based and need-based aid to recruited athletes. A strong student-athlete at a D3 school may graduate with significantly less debt than a peer who received a partial athletic scholarship at a D1 program.

When should a student-athlete start the college recruiting process?

Earlier than most families expect. For students seriously pursuing athletic recruitment, the process ideally begins by sophomore year of high school, with information gathering starting in freshman year. Athletic recruits are often committed to a school before senior year begins — up to 18 months ahead of the standard application timeline.

What should a recruit ask a college coach during the recruiting process?

Key questions include: What is the team’s culture and how do players interact? What are the coach’s expectations during the season and off-season? What does a typical practice look like? What academic support — tutors, advisors, study halls — is provided to athletes? How is scholarship money structured, and is there potential for the award to increase over four years?

What non-financial benefits do college athletes receive?

Athletes at many programs receive gear, access to training staff, priority course registration, priority housing assignments, dedicated academic advisors, and access to tutoring and study halls. Priority registration in particular can give athletes a significant advantage in course selection each semester.

Should my child focus more on athletics or academics for college scholarships?

Academics offer a more predictable and universally applicable path to scholarship money. Athletic recruiting is unpredictable — a coach’s needs change each year, and most sports carry limited aid. Strong grades and test scores, by contrast, are valued at every institution and in every sport. The best strategy for a student-athlete is to build the strongest possible academic record, use the sport to open doors, and let the academics provide the financial floor.

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Universities are also cutting sports–or at least slashing their budgets.  Very few NCAA sports programs break even, and even fewer make money:  most are a drag on institutional budgets.  As reported by the Associated Press,

In the five-year period through 2008, only 18 of 119 Division I athletic departments operated in the black, according to preliminary numbers compiled by Dan Fulks, an accounting professor at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., who has been an NCAA consultant for 20 years. Those numbers were before the economic downturn.

And one might argue (though in America college sports seem to be sacrosanct) that the amounts of money regularly poured into varsity athletics are unjustifiably high.  So perhaps it’s a good thing that coaches’ budgets are being axed.

But whether we think this is a good or bad thing, there is no doubt that the faltering economy is having an impact on the student experience at many universities.

Here are some examples:

• Some schools are eliminating new scholarships to less flashy sports, like cross country, track and field, and swimming.
• Many schools are trimming travel budgets.  For some schools this means fewer chartered plane and more commercial flights.  For some this means more buses instead of airplanes.  For others, it means traveling only to neighboring states.
• Some are cutting insurance for walk-on players.
• Media guides–hefty, eye-popping, public relations pieces–are being eliminated at many colleges.
• Coaches are scheduling more practices and games during the day to save on nighttime lighting.

Some of these measures will be barely noticeable to most athletes (except those swimmers who were expecting scholarships in return for spending countless hours paddling back and forth across the pool).  But if the economic downturn continues to affect college budgets, I would expect to see more cuts to athletic programs in the coming years.

Since most athletic programs do not pay for themselves, college presidents and boards of trustees will come under pressure to make further cuts to their institutional budgets.  And as they do, expect them to focus more on trimming athletic budgets as a way to protect financial aid, faculty salaries, and student services that are shared by all students–rather than the small number of athletes in some sports.

What does this mean for students and their families who are shopping for colleges with particular sports?  Be aware that some sports are much better funded than others, and that while a sport seems well-funded today, that doesn’t mean it will be well-funded tomorrow.  Ask questions about the financial health of the program, and inquire as to what cuts already have been made in the last year or two.  Don’t just assume that if your son or daughter gets a scholarship today that it will necessarily be extended all four years:  that’s a guarantee that no coach can really make in these tough financial times.

Educational Consultant

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