In the sports-obsessed United States, many families assume that the ticket to a hefty college scholarship is athletic prowess on the field, on the court, or in the pool.

Not so. 

Just look at the total numbers

Between the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) about $3.2 billion in athletic scholarships are dispersed every year. While that might sound like a hefty chunk of change, the reality is, when you do the math and look at the overall dynamics of athletic scholarships, you’ll see that number can be misleading.

Remember that of that $3.2 billion, only approximately one-quarter of it will be available to graduating high school seniors. With an estimated 54,000 incoming first-year athletes potentially receiving scholarships each year. That means that, on average, an athlete might expect to receive around $15,000 in scholarship dollars. Not bad, you may be thinking. But not the mother lode either when you consider the average cost of a college education.

Full-Ride Tuition Scholarships

Further, keep in mind that “full-ride tuition scholarships” only really exist for a few sports (men’s football and basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics). And for a few players in that sport, and that most athletic scholarships are only a fraction of those averages. Note, too, that many players at all levels of varsity play are on their teams with no scholarship money, at all. While Division 3 players never receive athletic scholarships, Division 1 and 2 teams carry several players who receive zero award dollars.

Academic Scholarships

Contrast all this with the facts and figures of academic scholarships. Individual colleges and universities give away approximately $24 billion in scholarship awards. And the Federal government gives away another $22 billion in need-based aid.  About 13.2 million students attend four-year colleges and universities. Obviously, if we did some math, the amount of money, on average, going to a student at a four-year college or university would be pretty tiny.

But it’s not distributed evenly—just as the athletic scholarship money is distributed unevenly, so too are academic scholarship dollars. No surprise: the best athletes (in certain sports) get more money than other athletes (in other sports). The best students with the best grades and tests scores get more money than other students.

But which is the better bet? Where should your son or daughter spend the most time and energy in order to get a better scholarship and reduce the cost of college?

Well, we’re betting on academics.

Here’s why. No matter what the scenario, having strong academic credentials is appealing for both colleges and college coaches. And yes, it can even help your child be recruited for that varsity collegiate spot on the team.

At best, college athletic recruiting is a crapshoot. Even the most seemingly talented players may not get the kind of coach interest that they believe they deserve. Every year, every coach seeks something different for their team and needs that different something to varying degrees. Depending upon how much they need it. And whether you offer it, the calculus of whether you’ll get recruited. And how much money you might be offered can change. Add into this that many sports are not well-supported financially at many colleges. And that the large majority of sports are “equivalency sports” that have a bucket of money that has to be divided up across all players, and suddenly you have a recipe for total scholarship unpredictability. Will your child get recruited? Maybe. Maybe not. 

Will your child get scads of scholarship money? Highly unlikely.

On the other hand, everybody wants a good student. Many institutions are more than willing to provide significant scholarship dollars to get that high-flyer. There is no gray here. No unpredictability. No complicated calculation. And, what constitutes a strong student is generally objectively agreed upon across all colleges? A solid performance in classwork as reflected by the high school transcript. Contrast this to the subjectivity of athletic recruiting, and you’ll see why spending time studying may be a better bet than spending money on that extra session of private coaching.

Plus, coaches are desperate for good students that they can recruit since they help out the coach on many levels. Coaches need to meet certain academic standards both with their recruiting class high school performance. As well as ongoing with their varsity team’s collegiate academic achievements. Often, coaches will have what they consider to be “academic recruits”. These are players who may not be considered superstars in their sport. But who can help buoy the team in the classroom? And, yes, they get actively recruited to be on the team. (Though, admittedly, these players don’t usually get much in the way of large athletic scholarships. They often do get sizable merit scholarships because of the strength of their academics).

So, which athletes get the biggest scholarships? The ones who don’t rely on their athletic prowess to be the main driver of their potential scholarship dollars and who study, study, study!

Andrea Aronson
Educational Consultant
 
 

The post Which Athletes Get the Biggest Scholarships? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

The first thing I said was that participation in sports was often an indicator of success in college. As varsity athletes tend to have higher GPAs and are more satisfied with their college experience.

However, these parents’ basic concern is valid. Being a Division I athlete is a huge commitment. One must eat, sleep, and breathe one’s sport, and a D1 athelete can plan on training throughout the year to stay in tip-top condition. Further, Division I athletes must commit to playing all four years if they want to keep their athletic scholarship.

But I spent a lot of time explaining that while Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, they do recruit athletes in a different way. Every school with a volleyball team (for example) wants to fill its roster with good players who can take a league championship. Thus many colleges offer other forms of scholarship money to entice an able player to join its team–and its student body.

For you see, colleges have needs that they are trying to fulfill. Not only do they need to round out their volleyball roster. But they need a tuba player, an editor of the school newspaper, and a tenor for the glee club. Think of admissions officers as social engineers: they need to populate the campus with a variety of folks to fill certain prescribed roles. The whole process is not quite so neat and clean as that (it’s not very scientific). But the art of the admissions officer is to build a well-rounded class. And in order to do this, they have to meet the needs of the coaches (among others).

So my advice to parents was to relax a bit. Their kids can still find colleges at which they can have a satisfying varsity athletic experience. And still focus on their school work and also allow them to explore other activities (study abroad, a new social cause, artistic pursuits, etc.).

While some kids are seeking the rush and excitement of serious competition a the Division I level. The majority of players that I met today at the Colorado Crossroads volleyball tournament will never be able to achieve that level of competition. But as I explained to these parents, their daughters will have myriad opportunities available to them. If they learn to play the college admissions and athletic recruiting games like a pro.

Speaking of a pro, I have been very fortunate to have Nancy Nitardy, author of Get Paid To Play, working with me at Colorado Crossroads. She is a former Division I swimming coach at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Indiana University. She works with me in advising athletes on their best athletic options. While I help the same students identify their best academic options. Together, Nancy Nitardy and I are able to provide great college advice for college-bound athletes, whatever their level of play.

Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consulting
Great College Advice

The post Division I vs. Division III: Sports as a Job, or Scholar-Athlete? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.