But don’t worry. Athletic Scholarships For Dummies is designed to answer all your questions, address the persistent rumors, and ease your mind about how you should begin pursuing a scholarship. Don’t worry about what other teammates are doing or how your cousin Joey got a full scholarship. We want you to begin thinking about your future, considering your assets, and making the moves that are best suited for you.
Sorting Through Scholarship Opportunities
If you know where to look, there is money to be found. The federal government is the largest source of funding, but you also can find all kinds of grants and scholarships available from major corporations and foundations as well as small mom-and-pop companies, all of which are committed to higher education.
Although your goal is to be awarded an athletic scholarship, you can’t reach that goal without understanding where the scholarship money is coming from, what you have to do to get it, and what your responsibilities are when you’ve gotten it.
In an effort to raise the standard of education in this country, Uncle Sam has been a giving uncle, establishing loans, grants, scholarships, even work-study programs for students and studentathletes. State governments also award financial aid. And, of course, both the federal and state governments have vested interests
in the money they award.
Colleges and universities are no different from the federal and state agencies in one important way: They expect something in return for the financial aid they offer, whether academic or athletic. Schools’ academic or athletic departments will be interested in you only if they believe you have something to offer them in return. College athletic departments want athletes who will lift their programs, make boosters happy, and help ensure championships.
You need to understand what kind of scholarship is being offered to you before you sign anything.
Finding the Right Program
Okay, so you’re a top-rated soccer or volleyball player, you’ve broken state records in football or track, or you’re a standout swimmer or diver. You show up to all your practices and games, have a great reputation
among coaches and competitors, and are widely known and respected among recruiters. You don’t need to worry about doing anything except playing the sport you play so well, right? Wrong. Assuming that all they have to focus on is playing sports and that everything else will fall into place is probably the numberone mistake high school student-athletes make.
Think about approaching scholarship searches as you do the sport you play: In your sport, proper equipment is paramount to your success. Think about the money you and your family have invested in shoes, apparel, balls, and sport-specific gear for your practices and competitions. Think about the time and energy you’ve
invested in practicing, perfecting your technique, and competing.
Think about the time and money your parents have invested in getting you to your practices and games, getting you enrolled in club leagues, and allowing you to attend select camps. When you’re going for a scholarship, you have to put in the same kind of time and effort.
Your educational choices are as wide and varied as are your choices in sport. But before you can make an informed decision about what school you want to attend, you have to decide what you want to achieve with your degree and what, if anything, you plan to do athletically after you graduate from college. You have to
make this decision because different types of schools offer different advantages academically and athletically.
Universities are four-year institutions with a variety of colleges or professional schools (such as colleges of liberal arts, business, law, medicine, and theology) and several kinds of degrees in many areas of study. They offer bachelor’s degrees in arts or sciences after four years of study; graduate degrees (master’s degrees and
doctoral degrees), which require additional years of study; and nursing, dental, and medical degrees, which also require additional years of study after completion of a bachelor’s degree. Universities are usually much larger than colleges, carry out research, and offer on-campus housing.
Four-year colleges usually concentrate on one major area of education (such as colleges of liberal arts) and offer bachelor’s degrees. Colleges generally do not support research or offer graduate programs, but they do have on-campus housing. Within the category of four-year schools, there are large and small colleges and universities. Most large institutions participate in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports. The large, Division I universities and colleges are the schools that send the majority of football, basketball, and baseball players into the major leagues. So, if your dream is to be a professional football or basketball player, you should shoot for attending an NCAA Division I school.
Many small colleges and universities are superior schools with excellent academic reputations and prestigious faculty members. Many student-athletes who are interested in education first and athletics second attend small universities, which often participate in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) or NCAA
Division II or III athletics. Many student-athletes also attend NCAA Division III schools for the opportunities to play in multiple sports (which is usually not allowed by NCAA Division I schools).
Community colleges or junior colleges offer associate’s degrees, which typically take two years to complete, and typically do not have on-campus housing. There are many reasons for attending two-year colleges:
- Some students are interested in obtaining an associate’s degree to pursue specific technical careers.
- Some students begin at a community or junior college with plans to transfer to larger colleges or universities because they didn’t qualify academically for admission into four-year schools. They plan to earn the grade point averages (GPAs) required for admission to four-year schools and then transfer.
- Some student-athletes start out at junior colleges when they haven’t been accepted by the athletic program at the four year school of their choice. They hope to maintain acceptable GPAs at the junior college, accrue playing time in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and attract the attention of recruiters from four-year schools.
you’re most interested in, student graduation rates and transfer rates, academic and athletic success, athletic probation, recruiting methods, the coaching staff, and more.
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