Breaking down how much scholarship money college athletes get by sport

Youth sports is a billion-dollar business, and parents sign their kids up to play various sports for life lessons they can teach, as well as the enhancement of physical and mental health.

But hoping to one day obtain a college scholarship to play a sport is often another big motivation for kids and parents.

However, the amount of scholarship money available for college programs to offer might not be as much as some think. In fact, it can be argued the money and time spent on travel sports in a lifetime ultimately ends up being more than what a college scholarship would one day bring an athlete.

Most college sports programs can’t even offer scholarships that will cover 50% of expenses when considering they have only a certain amount of scholarships they can offer, and have to divide that figure for an entire team.

For example, a Division I college baseball program is allotted 11.7 scholarships, so if the roster is around 30 players, that would be less than a 40% scholarship for each player.

A roster for a men’s soccer program will likely have 25-30 players, but there are only 9.9 scholarships available (there are 14 scholarships for women’s soccer programs).

No doubt, it’s better than nothing, but it’s not a full-ride many parents envision, unless some academic or other scholarships are thrown in also.

Here is a breakdown by each men’s and women’s college sport in Division I and Division II for the NCAA, as well as NAIA, according to Varsity Edge.

Of note, Division III and Ivy League programs aren’t able to offer scholarships.

NCAA women’s programs

NCAA men’s programs

NAIA programs (men’s and women’s)