How to Get an Athletic Scholarship: The Ultimate Guide

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Learn how to leverage your athletic talents to get into your dream college

Students walking around campus while one sits on stairs and researches athletic scholarships on his laptop

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Part 1: Introduction

If you’re the parent of a talented high school athlete, you’ve probably asked yourself these questions: How hard is it to get an athletic scholarship for college? How do you get a college athletic scholarship? How do athletic scholarships for college work?

According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which governs college athletics in America, there are roughly 460,000 undergraduate students involved in intercollegiate sports competition. These “student-athletes” encompass less than 3% of the total number of undergraduates across the country. The answers to your questions lie in the details of what kind of NCAA athlete your child is shaping up to be. 

Can a high school student’s athletic talent play a critical role in the college admissions process? 

The answer is a resounding “yes.” Colleges and universities award close to $3 billion in scholarships and financial aid to attract athletic talent to their campuses. Even at colleges that don’t award athletic scholarships — hundreds of institutions fit into this category — coaches and athletic programs still exert varying degrees of influence over the admissions process. 

Unlike obtaining a merit-based scholarship, which can be awarded by simply measuring an applicant’s academic grades and test scores, your child’s ability to get an athletic scholarship relies on many factors:

  • Your child’s athletic talent

  • Your child’s sport and its specific recruiting process

  • The types of athletic scholarships and financial aid available at different institutions 

  • The needs of a particular athletic program (when we say program, we’re referring to a single sports team at a college or university)

  • Your child’s academic profile

College athletics is made even more complicated by NCAA rules and regulations, by the breakdown of competition into three tiers (Division I - Division III), and by the athletic conferences that make up these divisions. 

Here, we’ll summarize best practices and strategies for helping your child leverage their athletic talents to get into college, receive funding for college, or be successful in both pursuits. We’ll also answer common questions and root out misconceptions about the recruiting process. 

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Part 2: How hard is it to get an athletic scholarship? 

High school sports are popular across the country, but only a chosen few have what it takes to play intercollegiate sports. When thinking about how your child can get an athletic scholarship, you first need to consider their athletic talent — are they good enough to play in college?

Your child’s athletic community will probably answer this question for you. For most sports, the process of ranking talent begins prior to high school, because of youth leagues and amateur competition. As a high-school student, your child’s talents are usually on display if they compete for their high schools, play for AAU teams, attend recruiting camps, take part in local or national tournaments, or pursue a mixture of these activities.    

These platforms give teenagers the opportunity to impress college coaches, recruiters and athletic departments, who ultimately make decisions about who receives athletic scholarships and who doesn’t.

If you feel like your child is not receiving the attention he or she deserves, it’s not the end of the world. There are many ways to further his or her athletic career. Later on, we’ll discuss how you can help your child get recruited by colleges.

How many high school student-athletes get athletic scholarships or financial aid? 

Even if your child is outperforming other high school athletes, getting a college athletic scholarship is still competitive. The NCAA reports that approximately 2 percent of high-school athletes receive some funding to play sports in college, totaling around 150,000 students. These figures don’t account for the different types of scholarships or funding awarded to students.

How many college students-athletes receive athletic scholarships or financial aid?

This question is difficult to answer for one primary reason: not all colleges and universities award scholarships to high school athletes. As we stated earlier, the NCAA breaks down college sports into three Divisions, each has its own rules about how colleges award athletes: 

Division I

  • Comprised of larger colleges and universities with sizable athletic budgets that award students various types of athletic scholarships and financial aid packages

  • 58% of student athletes receive some form of financial aid attached to their athletic performance

  • Eligibility to compete is determined by the NCAA 

Division II

  • Comprised of colleges and universities with more limited athletic budgets, which award students various types of scholarships and financial aid packages

  • 59% of student athletes receive some form of financial aid attached to their athletic performance

  • Eligibility to compete is determined by the NCAA

Division III

  • Comprised of smaller college and universities that don’t award athletic scholarships   

  • 80% of student-athletes receive some form of financial aid that isn’t connected to the athletic performance

  • Eligibility to compete is determined by individual colleges and universities 

In reality, only a select number of Division I student-athletes get the celebrity treatment that Americans often associate with being a college athlete. Typically, this treatment is reserved for student-athletes who play specific sports (football and basketball, to be specific) that generate significant revenues for universities through ticket tales, endorsement deals and broadcast television contracts.

How many students use their athletic talents to help them in the college admissions process?

Because intercollegiate sports are broken down into different divisions — each with its own set of rules — it’s impossible to make blanket statements about how much athletic talent plays into the college admissions process as a whole. 

For instance, a football player who receives a full-athletic scholarship to a Division I university has a wildly different admissions experience than a football player who joins his Division III school team without speaking to the team’s coaches beforehand. The latter football player may have written in his college essay about his intentions to play football, and this essay may have impressed the admissions committee, but he wasn’t recruited by the school. Because of these nuances in college admissions, we can’t precisely determine how many students use athletics to help them get into college.   

What other sources of funding are available for college athletes?

In addition to athletic scholarships and financial aid packages connected to a student’s athlete performance, college athletes can also apply for academic scholarships and traditional financial aid, including federal grants, through their institution’s financial aid office.

Division I athletes can also apply for funding through the NCAA Division I Student Assistance Fund, which helps student-athletes pay for various aspects of their college experience.

(Suggested Reading: The Ultimate Guide to Finding and Winning College Scholarships)

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Part 3: What is the recruiting process for college athletics? 

If your child is talented enough to play sports at the next level after high school, then they might be getting recruited by one or more colleges or universities. Getting recruited means that an institution is actively inviting your child to play sports and represent the institution in intercollegiate competition. 

Who governs the recruiting process?

College recruiting is governed by the NCAA, which has developed general rules and regulations to protect the interests of high school athletes and colleges. The organization’s guidelines also apply to how colleges can contact a high school athlete’s parents or legal guardians. 

Make sure you remain aware of the rules and regulations that govern your child’s specific sport and its recruiting process. You can get into the details by speaking to your child’s coaches and making a plan. 

How do I know if my child is eligible to play in college?

Student-athletes must register with the NCAA to confirm their eligibility to play sports in college. NCAA eligibility requires that high school athletes retain their status as amateurs competitors and fulfill (or be working to fulfill) necessary academic requirements, including NCAA approved high school courses, minimum GPAs and standardized test scores.  

When does college athletic recruiting begin?

The recruiting process varies from sport to sport. The NCAA has created specialized Recruiting Calendars, which determine when a college can and cannot be in contact with a student-athlete and their parents.

Once contact is permissible, college coaches and recruiters can contact your child in-person, via telephone, text, email, or social media, or through a third party, such as your child’s high-school coach or athletic director. 

Even when a college can’t contact your child, they might still be “evaluating” him or her from a distance. This means that coaches and recruiters are observing your child’s athletic performance at games, practices, tournaments, or recruiting camps, etc., but they aren’t allowed to initiate contact.

Most recruiting calendars also have quiet periods, when only written or telephone contact is permissible, and dead periods, when no contact is permissible. The NCAA wants to give your child free time(s) during the year when recruiting isn’t a top priority, so your child can focus on academics and training. These periods also give college coaches time to reflect on the talent pool and make decisions about dispersing scholarships.    

How else does college recruiting work?

Athletic programs recruiting your child may invite them to formally visit campus. On “official visits,” your child will meet with coaches, current student-athletes and other representatives of the school’s athletic community. On official visits, schools are allowed to pay for certain types of expenses, such as transportation, accommodation, and a set number of meals.

Your child can also complete an “unofficial visit” to a college with an athletic program that interests them. Even if he or she meets with coaches or members of the school’s athletic department, this visit will still be considered unofficial, because your child’s expenses are not being paid for by the institution. 

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Part 4: What can I do to help my child get recruited?

A common myth is that college coaches are entirely in control of the recruiting process. In reality, they have no way of knowing about all the talented high school athletes who are interested in their athletic program. The country is too large and the number of talented athletes is too great.

How can I help my child connect with college coaches?

Your child can reach out to college coaches themselves. The NCAA allows high school athletes to contact coaches directly, keeping in mind the organization’s regulations and recruiting schedules that also govern this aspect of college recruiting. To help your child conduct outreach, you can:

  • Identify colleges and universities with athletic programs that might be a good fit for your child

  • Research the specific recruiting process and personnel of athletic programs on your child’s list

  • Help your child measure their athletic performance. In addition to taping games or practices for highlight reels, you can calculate your child’s “stats” (RBIs in baseball, average number of rebounds per game in basketball, etc.) that quantify their athletic talent for college coaches

  • Track the attention your child receives from local, regional or national media outlets so these press materials can be forwarded to college coaches

  • Help draft your child’s initial outreach emails to coaches—note that under no circumstance should you, as the parent, be communicating directly with coaches; this isn’t a rule, but it’s a strong suggestion, as you doing so will undercut any perceptions of your child’s maturity.

  • Help your child manage his or her social media, which has become an active platform for college recruiting—this means using their online presence to post responsibly and maturely, with highlight reels, for instance, rather than pictures from high school parties

  • Find opportunities for your child to compete where college coaches and recruiters are present.

  • Plan and facilitate unofficial visits to colleges and universities  

Common challenges in college athletic recruiting

As is the case with many extracurricular activities, your child may encounter certain roadblocks during their high school athletic career. We’ve listed a few here and offered suggestions on how to counter them. It matters to troubleshoot these things early and often for your child, since the road to being a student athlete recruit is four years long.

Competition within the team: If your daughter is a soccer goalie, and there is another talented goalie on her high school team who is a grade above her, your daughter might not be able to show her talent until her senior year. This scenario could impact her ability to get recruited by colleges. 

Options: 

  • Transfer programs. Depending on how serious your daughter is about playing sports in college, she may need to transfer to another high school where she can show her talents as an underclassman.

  • Seek extracurricular alternatives outside of school. Your child might benefit from joining a club team outside of school or attending a recruiting camp during the summer. These activities are often expensive and require long-term planning.

Breaks in high school athletic career: If your daughter is showing promise on the basketball court as a freshman and sophomore, but she’s injured over the summer and can’t play her junior year, she’d lose a season of being actively scouted. Her injury would affect her ability to impress college coaches during a crucial time in the recruiting process.

Options:

  • Sustain contact with college coaches. If college sports programs are showing interest in your daughter, she should keep them abreast of her recovery process (physical therapy, summer plans to play club sports, etc.) to ensure they know she’s still interested in being recruited.

  • Pursue a post graduate program for high school. Following her senior year, your child might need to complete another season playing sports in high school to secure an athletic scholarship. Many private schools across the country have post graduate programs that appeal to student athletes for this very reason. 

Resources of college sports teams: Your child’s preferred program wants to offer him a football scholarship, but cannot his senior year because they’ve run out of funds in their budget. (See below for more information about how sports programs disperse athletic scholarships and financial aid.)

Options: 

  • Explore options to delay NCAA eligibility. Your child might have to redshirt a year in college sports — this means they attend college as a recruited athlete, but forfeit a full year or less of NCAA eligibility. In most cases, your child will enroll as a full-time student and train with their team and coaches, but your child won’t compete in NCAA sanctioned games, matches, etc., and may or may not receive a scholarship or financial aid as a freshman.  

  • Become a transfer student. Some college sports programs provide athletic scholarships and financial aid to transfer students. Your child might want to enroll elsewhere for his freshman year of college and transfer in as a sophomore if a scholarship offer is still on the table.     

To help your child manage their high school athletic career, you can: 

  • Develop a four-year plan for your child; include key benchmarks for their athletic development.

  • Remain aware of your child’s involvement on his or her high school team; this includes developing a rapport with your child’s coaches and guidance counselors. You don’t want to be a helicopter parent, turning your child’s supporters off, but you should be friendly and in communication with them.

  • Keep track of your child’s academic profile to ensure he or she maintains NCAA eligibility. Make a plan with them every semester to make certain that they’re enrolled in the right courses and are sufficiently challenged without being overloaded.

  • Find opportunities for your child to compete where college coaches and recruiters are present.

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Part 5: What do I do if a college or university wants to offer my child a scholarship? 

If a college or university is interested in awarding your child an athletic scholarship, they’ll inform your family of their intentions.   Typically, after they’ve formally offered the scholarship, your child is given a set amount of time to decide whether they want to accept the award or turn it down. Later, we’ll discuss how college recruiting relates to the admissions process in greater detail. 

What types of athletic scholarships and funding are available?

Colleges and universities award different types of scholarships and financial aid to student-athletes on a case by case basis. Scholarships can range from “full rides,” which refer to scholarships that include tuition, room and board, and other personal expenses until your child graduates college, to more tailored scholarships and financial aid packages.

What types of student athlete scholarships are available?

Ultimately, it’s up to college athletic departments and specific athletic programs to decide what type of scholarship they want to offer your child. Some programs will award a high school athlete a scholarship for many years with the option of terminating the agreement after one year. This type of scholarship is conditional and renewed annually based on the following considerations: 

  • Athletic performance: The athletic program wants to make sure your child performs at the level required to maintain his or her scholarship

  • Academic eligibility: Your child needs to fulfill the minimum academic requirements to be a student athlete on campus

  • Athletic budgets: The college reserves a certain amount of money each year to fund specific athletic programs

What are the best athletic scholarships or colleges?

There’s no way to rank athletic scholarships or colleges, since there are so many factors, some objective (such as a school’s success in the NCAA tournaments), and other subjective (your child’s preference for small or large class sizes). As a parent, you need to complete due diligence during the recruiting process to ensure your child accepts the athletic scholarship that’s right for them.

You need to be prepared to handle different types of scenarios, which require families to make difficult decisions. Here are some strategies to help you navigate the process:

Have honest conversations with college coaches and recruiters. Will my child play as a freshman or sophomore? Is your athletic program recruiting other athletes to play his or her position? As a parent, it’s your responsibility to ask uncomfortable questions about your child’s athletic career. College recruiting is a tricky business, with coaches and athletic programs competing for the most talented high school athletes. Although the NCAA works to police college recruiting, you need to prioritize your child’s career above the needs of a particular college or athletic program. 

Review scholarship offers and search athletic programs. What’s the nature of my child’s athletic scholarship? Is it conditional on his athletic performance? How many college athletes on campus keep their scholarships for all four years? As we mentioned above, colleges and their athletic programs are in control of how they disperse scholarships and financial aid packages. As a parent, your job is to learn how your child’s scholarship will affect his or her day-to-day existence and living expenses on campus. 

Have honest conversations with your child. Which colleges and athletic programs interest you? Which colleges and athletic programs should we remove from your list? Athletic scholarships complicate the admissions process because your child may be asked to sign a formal contract with a college or university (see below for more details). If they break this contract, it can have serious repercussions, such as losing NCAA eligibility for a period of time or damaging their reputation in their sport’s community. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to stay abreast of your child’s situation to ensure he or she understands the responsibilities of accepting an athletic scholarship.   

For a more comprehensive rundown of considerations, visit the NCAA’s website, which lists questions that high school athletes and their families should ask colleges and athletic programs.  

How does my child accept an offer? 

The NCAA stipulates that high school athletes can’t officially commit to a college before a specific date on their sport’s recruiting calendar. If a school extends an offer prior to this date, your child can issue a verbal agreement with an athletic program, publicly informing  its coaches and your child’s sports community of their intentions to attend that college or university. Verbal agreements are non-binding.

Later on, your child can officially commit to attending that college by signing a National Letter of Intent, which is a contractual agreement between your child and the college. If your child breaks this contract by enrolling in another college, he or she loses a full year of eligibility to compete in NCAA competition.

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Part 6: How does recruiting affect the college admissions timelines?

Your child's talent, sport's season, and sport's recruiting calendars will help determine the general timeline for how and when they are offered a scholarship and gain admittance to a college or university.

Given the year-round nature of recruiting (with contact, evaluation, quiet and dead periods for each sport) your child's admission process won't necessarily coincide with traditional college admissions timelines, with application deadlines in the fall and winter and notifications in the spring. Athletic programs are in constant contact with college admissions officers, but decisions are made on a case by case basis, thereby affecting the nature of the application process. 

For instance, a high school lacrosse player might receive a verbal offer from a college at the end of her junior year with the agreement that she will apply as an early decision applicant in the fall. Alternatively, a basketball player might still be getting recruited during their senior year and land a scholarship in the spring, several months after typical college applications are due. 

In the former case, if the lacrosse player has the right grades and test scores, then the early decision application may just be a formality — she can be confident about her acceptance even as a junior. In the latter case, the basketball player's college applications are on uncertain ground until college coaches make their decisions in the spring. By this point, college admissions officers are usually waiting on coaches and not the other way around. 

As a parent of a high-school athlete, you need to remain aware of all the options on the table when college is concerned and plan accordingly. In addition to reviewing the NCAA recruiting calendars, here is a timeline to help your child manage the admissions process as it relates to college recruiting:

Freshman year

Sophomore year

  • Revisit and edit college list, if necessary

  • Initiate or sustain contact with college coaches

  • Complete unofficial visits to colleges and universities

Junior year

Senior year

  • Revisit and finalize college list

  • Initiate or sustain contact with college coaches

  • Complete official visits to colleges and universities

  • Retake standardized SAT or ACT, if necessary

  • Follow college application guidelines provided by athletic programs

  • Apply to colleges and universities 

  • Review scholarship offers and issue a verbal agreement, if applicable

  • Sign a National Letter of Intent for select sports, if applicable   

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Part 7: What else should I consider when it comes to my child playing sports in college?

Playing sports will only be one aspect of your child’s overall college experience. He or she will have to attend classes, maintain a certain GPA and continue the process of preparing for life after graduation. While your child is still in high school, it’s important to discuss how playing intercollegiate sports factors into their long-term goals. 

How will playing sports in college affect my child academically?

In addition to being a fulfilling experience, playing sports in college can provide your child with considerable academic and social opportunities. College athletic departments are known to offer student-athletes:

  • Academic support in the form of tutors and academic advisors, who help student-athletes manage their studies

  • Travel opportunities paid for by the college or university

  • Robust alumni networks that can provide professional and career opportunities after graduation

When helping your child make decisions about their college athletic career, it’s important to keep these considerations in mind.

Is it worth it to play sports at Division III colleges?

Even though Division III colleges and universities don’t award athletic scholarships, many have active athletic programs that recruit talented high school students. Some of these colleges, including those that compete in the New England Small College Athletics Conference (NESCAC), have a tradition of being highly competitive in NCAA Division III athletics while maintaining exceptional academic reputations.    

Final thoughts

Athletics can provide an amazing opportunity for your child to succeed as an undergraduate student in addition to helping your family pay for college. If your child has a passion for playing sports, there’s no harm in trying to leverage their talents for the college admissions process.

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian headshot

About the Author

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on college admissions. Over the past 15 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into top programs like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT using his exclusive approach.

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Dr. Shemmassian

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and well-known expert on college admissions, medical school admissions, and graduate school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into elite institutions.