{"id":449,"date":"2026-03-21T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartcollegeadmission.com\/?p=449"},"modified":"2026-05-02T18:26:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:26:46","slug":"dont-bank-on-an-athletic-scholarship-to-pay-for-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartcollegeadmission.com\/es\/dont-bank-on-an-athletic-scholarship-to-pay-for-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Bank On an Athletic Scholarship To Pay for College"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We hear a lot about college athletes and scholarship opportunities. Hundreds of thousands of students and their families dream (or bank on) getting an athletic scholarship to a four-year college.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is the reality:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your odds of getting into Stanford = 3%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">versus<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">odds of getting an NCAA athletic scholarship = 1-2%&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote alignfull is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Not even a full-ride scholarship, <\/strong><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><em><strong>ANY\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>athletic<\/strong><\/span><strong> scholarship.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the NCAA website:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">7,200,000 = high school student-athletes in the USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">499,000 go on to play NCAA -DI, II, and III combined<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">180,000 get DI or DII athletic scholarships ($ to play)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>$3.6 billion in scholarships for 180,000 DI and DII athletes sounds like there should be plenty to go around, right?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s do the math:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">$3.6 Billion\/180,000 = $20,000\/student average award<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, there are other student-athlete organizations, but the NCAA is by far the largest. By comparison, the next largest, NAIA, serves about 60,000 students, and the average award there is $7,000. There are also options to play at 2-year schools, which tend to be less expensive, and the scholarship amount varies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Actual # of Athletes by Division<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DI &#8211; 182,681 &#8211; about 4% of the student body participates in sports&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DII &#8211; 122,722 &#8211; about 10% of the student body participates in sports<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Combined, these two divisions serve 305,403 student-athletes. Only 180,000, or 59%,\u00a0 get athletic any money because of their athletic abilities. <strong>That means 41% of athletes in <em>DI and DII <\/em>schools play purely for the love of it without financial benefit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At DIII schools, 193,814 students- about 17% of the student body- participate in sports for the joy of playing. No athletic scholarships are offered in DIII.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are there non-financial benefits? Definitely! Having a coach advocate for you in the admission process can increase your odds; starting college with a team can foster a sense of belonging and community, and playing a sport you enjoy is fantastic!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But banking on an athletic scholarship to pay for college is a long shot. Go in with your eyes open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you are interested in playing NCAA, be sure to register on the NCAA website and check your course eligibility &#8211; DO NOT assume anything!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web3.ncaa.org\/ecwr3\">https:\/\/web3.ncaa.org\/ecwr3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I also strongly recommend listening to the conversation with four former D1\/D2 coaches on the podcast <em>Your College Bound Kid<\/em> from March 2026. Some of the best advice I&#8217;ve heard.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We hear a lot about college athletes and scholarship opportunities. Hundreds of thousands of students and their families dream (or bank on) getting an athletic scholarship to a four-year college.&nbsp; Here is the reality: Your odds of getting into Stanford = 3% versus odds of getting an NCAA athletic scholarship = 1-2%&nbsp; Not even a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paying-for-college"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Don\u2019t Bank On an Athletic Scholarship To Pay for College - Smart College Admission<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartcollegeadmission.com\/es\/dont-bank-on-an-athletic-scholarship-to-pay-for-college\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t Bank On an Athletic Scholarship To Pay for College - Smart College Admission\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We hear a lot about college athletes and scholarship opportunities. 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