What’s a Full Scholarship?

While speaking to Ed and Shelley Frawley, parents of pole-vaulting phenomenon Nick Frawley, we asked about the full ride. Because Nick ranked third in the nation, placing first in the state of Texas, the Frawleys invested themselves fully in the world of athletic scholarships. As they began talking to other parents attending competitions, they learned that the myth of scholarship money is still alive and kicking. You know the rumor: There’s millions of dollars in scholarship money just begging to be given away. The reality is that scholarship money is more difficult than ever to get. And the full ride? “It’s rare,” agree the Frawleys. “Very rare.”

The full ride
A full-ride scholarship is a free ride, right? It is just as you might imagine, providing for the full tuition, fees, room, board, and course-related books in exchange for the athlete’s performance for four or five years (as long as the athlete keeps up his end of the bargain and remains eligible).

The reality, however, is that full-ride scholarships are very rare and are becoming more so with the increased pressure from conferences around the country in favor of one-year renewable scholarships. As the number of full-ride scholarships declines, the renewable award is a viable way for recruiters to recognize and reward student-athletes with the promise of a full ride. It is a one-year award that is renewed at the end of each school year for the standard four-year academic/athlete career. The renewable award is a good-faith offer.

In other words, student-athletes and their parents must go on faith that the award will be renewed at year’s end.

We recommend that you talk to recruiters and other athletes from the schools you’re considering, and investigate their record of renewing awards for athletes who comply with the academic and athletic standards set before them.

It is important to understand that athletic scholarships are awarded directly by each academic institution, not by the NCAA or NAIA. Within the NCAA, for example, approximately $1 billion in athletic scholarships is awarded each year. Although that dollar sum sounds high, the cost of awarding scholarships is even higher,
mainly due to rising tuition costs. For this reason, schools favor partial or renewable one-year scholarships because they can offer more money to more athletes.

The numbers count
Some sports are known as head-count sports; they generate more revenue among boosters, fans, and the residual effects from major television deals. Some of the bigger head-count sports for Division I schools are ;

• Football (85)
• Men’s basketball (13)
• Men’s hockey (18 full scholarships spread out over no more than 30 players)
• Women’s basketball (15)
• Women’s volleyball (12)

Because they participate in head-count sports, most of these student-athletes are on a full scholarship because even if you’re receiving only tuition and fees or books, you count as one of the “heads” toward the maximum limit. For example, if you’re playing women’s volleyball at a Division I school and receiving only a partial
athletic scholarship, you still count as 1 of the 12. Obviously, the schools with deeper pockets will be able to offer more full scholarships in these head-count sports, but for a lot of Division I schools that do not sponsor football, basketball (and sometimes volleyball or hockey) are the money-makers so these student-athletes receive full scholarships with the hope of being more successful and, thus, earning more revenue for the entire athletic department.

Although the debate on commercialism rages on, the reality is, with scholarship costs increasing, schools need outside revenue to further their athletics programs. Again, people continue to debate which sports should benefit from such revenues and how. In the meantime, logos, sponsored halftime shows, tailgating events, and
in-game and postgame entertainment promotions — as well as lucrative television deals partnered with big business such as Coca-Cola, General Motors, and Cingular — are on the rise. Think of sponsorship (the research and securing of) as a business deal for the student-athlete’s future — the more revenue a school can
generate, the more scholarships it may be able to offer.

Some people argue that activities such as these are exploiting student-athletes and that the school is making money off the talents and skills of young men and women. In the end, however, athletic scholarships are a wonderful privilege for student-athletes and an expensive proposition for any university. Therefore, athletic
departments are becoming more and more creative about how to generate more revenue in order to allow student-athletes like you to earn a scholarship!
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