And now the moment you’ve been waiting for (drum roll please) … scholarships! Here at The Hub, we love to talk about scholarships because (newsflash) college is expensive.
And given the financial importance of scholarships, it’s useful to understand the basics of how they work in the college golf world. In this article, we’ll answers questions such as: How many scholarships are there per team? How do full scholarships work vs. partial scholarships? How does it vary by Division? Are scholarships guaranteed for all four years? Any general rules of thumb to consider as it relates to scholarships?
It’s a worthy mission. Let’s start at the top.
The first thing to understand is that the number of scholarships on a team varies by (a) division and (b) whether it’s a men’s or women’s program. Here are the maximum number of Full Scholarships (includes tuition, fees, room and board, books) by division and gender:
Maximum # of Scholarships for College Golf
|
|
NCAA D1 |
NCAA D2 |
NCAA D3 |
NAIA |
NJCAA |
|
Men’s |
4.5 |
3.6 |
None |
5 |
8 |
|
Women’s |
6.0 |
5.4 |
None |
5 |
8 |
As always remember to use the Hub. Our college golf program finder conveniently lets you screen and search by division, so you can understand whether the school you have your eyes set on has the potential to have athletic scholarships. For example, NCAA D3 schools are not able to offer scholarships and NCAA D1 schools can offer up to 6 female scholarships and 4.5 male scholarships.
It’s also important to understand that scholarships generally come in two types, either fixed amounts and percentage amounts. Fixed amounts offer a set amount (say $10,000) per year whereas percentage amounts are calculated as a percentage of a benchmark like full tuition. Both types are commonly used in college golf. It’s important to understand that in periods of rising tuition costs (very likely!), percentage amount scholarships grow along with the rising tuition costs. Not bad! If college costs decrease it works the other way. In addition, fixed amount scholarships may not be ‘fixed’ for every year and the amount can be increased on an annual basis for performance reasons. We recommend checking with the coach to understand the types of scholarships the college offers and ways the scholarship amount can be increased.
Keep in mind that for NCAA DI and DII programs, the scholarship offer is often part of the National Letter of Intent (NLI) program. The NLI applies to most DI and DII programs, although there are some notable exceptions like the Ivy League which do not offer athletic scholarships. The NLI comes with a guaranteed one-year scholarship to the college or university.
Next, here are some Hub rules of thumb for college golf scholarships:
- Full rides are rare: We love hearing stories of players getting full rides. The reality though is that full rides are rare and quite often limited to the top junior players in the country. It is worth noting, however, that full rides are more common in women’s college golf than men’s.
- Equivalency is the norm: How do you get 3.6 scholarships for D2 Men’s Programs? The magic word is ‘equivalency’ and it’s the norm in college golf scholarships. Basically, equivalency allows a program to offer partial scholarships to team members. Take D2 for example. If there are 10 members on the college golf team and coach wants to spread the 3.6 scholarships equally across all players, then each player receives a 36% scholarship. Exact statistics are not published but our Hub experience is that if you are offered a scholarship, it typically will fall someone in the 20 – 50% level for men and 50 – 75% range for women but this varies according to division
- Not all teams are fully funded: Remember our table above? These are maximum amounts of scholarships and many teams can fall short of that number. Therefore, when meeting the coach, it’s useful to understand whether their scholarships are fully funded or not.
- Scholarships are generally one-year agreements: Scholarships are typically one-year agreements. If a player continues to meet team requirements and expectations they are likely to maintain or even increase the scholarship. If the student’s academic or golf performance falls short of par, there is a risk that the scholarship can be reduced or in some cases withdrawn.
- Women’s scholarships are available but need to be earned: Women’s scholarships are more plentiful then men (6 scholarships in NCAA DI vs. 4.5 for men) and the supply of women’s golfers is more limited. This has created an environment where scholarships opportunities are often available for aspiring talent. However, the road is not paved with gold. Scholarship opportunities at top DI programs are very hard fought as the competition is intense. And even scholarship opportunities at less competitive programs need to be earned through solid play.
- Don’t write off DIII: It’s true that NCAA DIII programs do not offer athletic scholarships. Be careful though before discrediting them completely. NCAA DIII colleges can often offer academic scholarships or grant money that puts them on par (or better) with other Divisions. Keep this in mind during your college search.
There you have it, the Hub’s primer on college golf scholarships. Wishing you the best of luck as you talk to coaches and receive scholarship offers. Now get out there and start working on your game!
Enjoy your Journey!
Want to learn more? The Hub’s Essential Guide, a Premium Feature of Junior Golf Hub covers all the basics of the college golf recruiting process and more. Get the inside scoop on:
- Coach communication
- Tournament scheduling
- Junior golf rankings
- NCAA rules and regulations
- College golf scholarships
- What college life is really like