Student Athletes: Athletic Full Ride Scholarships

What most people don’t is that not all athletes get the full-ride scholarships that people think of. Most collegiate sports don’t even offer full-ride scholarships; instead they have a set amount of money that they can do whatever to give scholarships. According to a U.S. News article, “The average athletic scholarship is about $10,400. Only four sports offer full rides to all athletes who receive scholarships: football, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s volleyball” (O'Shaughnessy). Just to put this into perspective, there are twenty-four total college sports, and only these 4 offer full scholarships. This showcases the rarity of a full-ride in college athletes. Looking into it even more, most of those college athletes come from low income families, “86 percent of college athletes come from below the poverty line” (Hayes 1). A college athlete's schedule is also very hectic. In an article showing the schedule of a football player, it lists, “6am-7am: Wake up,

Other colleges will take a lower grade point average but none of them will go below a 2.5gpa. Colleges also look at high school kids ACT’s that they take to see how well they place on them. So Academic Excellence in football is a must have for each player and thus gets rid of the old day dumb jock idea that was widely popular in the earlier years of football. “Each year, the NCAA publicly announces the Graduation Success Rate of all Division I institutions, along with a similar Division II Academic Success Rate. According to the most recent Graduation Success Rate data, 82 percent of Division I freshmen scholarship student-athletes who entered college in 2004 graduated. The graduation-rate data are based on a six-year cohort prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education.” (Graduation Success Rate) For many kids a scholarship is the only way they have to be able to attend college either because their parents don’t have the money for it or else the college they are wanting is so high in tuition fees etc. that they just can’t afford it especially if it’s an out of state college. In state colleges normally run no more than about seven thousand dollars a year depending on where the individual lives. Out of state colleges can charge a student up to twenty-five thousand dollars a

College scholarships, the attraction of every devoted sports player out there. Earning scholarships brings players together not only to step up their game, but to be enthusiastic about exceeding their academic goals. Colleges put down an amount of money to attract top athletes from high schools all over their state. Athletic meaning all sports, like golf, fencing, and water polo. Tons of schools and families support the aid colleges grant in their athletic scholarship programs, while others are against it, saying that it has too few people who are accepted and that it takes away money that everyone else has to pay for their classes. They don’t realize that players will be encouraged to do great academically, so that they may do great

The recruiting game is drastically different from what it was years ago, and the athletes who know that have an advantage over those who do not. Athletes in all sports can make a name for themselves during the offseason and catch the eye of college recruiters by attending camps and clinics, and by taking advantage of the internet. Having a realistic expectation with respect to athletic scholarship money is helpful. In addition to athletic scholarships, many colleges offer other types of financial assistance and the pool of available money to your child will be substantially increased with strong academic results.High school athletes regularly ask, "How do I get a college scholarship?" The answer, at first, seems simple: If you are good enough,

The payment of college athletes will kill the principles of recruiting.High school students want to continue their sport at the collegiate level is for the increased level of play, competition, team bonding, and the college athlete experience. College recruiters love to offer an athlete the

These big-time college athletes receive an education that costs normal students thousands of dollars. Author of "Students Are Not Professional Athletes.", Mitchell Horace, basically says that college athletes get to graduate without the burden of paying student loans. Many normal students are unable to complete their education because of the extensive prices and would be ecstatic to not have the burden of paying for their education if they could play a sport instead. Full ride scholarships for athletes include tuition, university fees, textbooks, and room and board which allow athletes that receive these scholarships to attend the college at little cost. These scholarships allow athletes to graduate college debt free which is an amazing advantage as many students are in debt when they graduate college. These scholarships are definitely sufficient compensation for these athletes as they give them giant advantages over normal students.

After high school, some students decide to make the decision to go to college to further their education, earn a degree, have fun, and some, to play sports. College sporting events bring in money through tickets, jerseys, shirts, and other gear. The money made for all of these items and expenses go to paying coaches, the school, charities, utilities, and other expenses a school has to pay to have a sports team. Most college athletes are given scholarships to allow them not to have to pay for college or anything that comes with the college experience. Some athletes, that are good enough athletically, do not ever pay for tuition, living expenses, meal plans, books, and everything else a normal student would have to pay for. For some college athletes that is not enough. Some college athletes believe that they should get a paycheck based on the money that the school makes on putting on sporting events that these athletes are participating in. Other college athletes are satisfied with the scholarship given to them and do not seek additional money.

Many believe that paying college athletes is wrong because they are amateurs, or students first and athletes second. With tuition continuing to raise the average athletic scholarships aren’t covering the costs anymore. There is a misconception that most college athletes on athletic scholarships are getting everything paid for, in reality that’s actually false. For example, a Division I basketball team is granted thirteen scholarships each year. Of those thirteen scholarships the University is allowed to split them up however they feel. These scholarships are for incoming students from high school and returning student athletes that had their scholarship picked up for another year. According to author Mark Kantrowitz, less than 20,000 students a year receive an entirely free ride to college (O’Shaughnessy, 2011). That number is students total, not student athletes, that is a very small number when you see that there were 453,347 NCAA student athletes in 2012-13 (Brown, 2013).

There are many good athletes in professional sports today. There are many good athletes in college sports today also. Some of the biggest names in sports are Mark McGwire, Steve Young, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and so on. Now, imagine if all of those players never made it to the pros. What would happen to professional sports? Why are they in the pros now? To make it into professional sports you need more than just talent. You need opportunity. College scholarships not only give athletes the opportunity to reach the professional ranks, but also give the chance for many players to earn a degree in higher education.

For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances

Major universities offer amazing service to their collegiate athletes. As athletes, they obviously are placed in much higher standards than the other students of the school. Also, colleges provide great gyms to exercise in, free health insurance in case of injury, team transportation, food, equipment, and most importantly tuition which is already paid

Tom Farrey, a former ESPN journalist and a national speaker on youth sports wrote his first book in 2008. Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of our Children tries to explain why there has been a decline in youth sports in recent years. In Chapter 6, Farrey uses college scholarships as one means to explain this phenomenon. His assertion stated above explains the problem with athletic scholarships is mainly that they didn’t listen to *NYSNC and instead have multiple strings attached to them. This declaration can be concurred on the grounds that not only are “full-rides” rare and do not cover the full cost of college, but also that the athlete puts more into the sport than what is typically recognized and also that an athletic scholarship

Student athletes commonly go to school for one reason: their love for the sport they participate in. These student athletes get scholarships from large Division 1 schools, which means things such as schooling, board, and food will be paid for by the school so the student athletes do not have to pay for these benefits themselves (Patterson). If college athletes are to be paid, it will cause unfair compensation between players who are valued or played more than others. When student athletes are rewarded with a scholarship, they have nothing school related that they would need to pay for. This can lead them to blow all of their income on unnecessary or dangerous things such as drugs and alcohol which could get them removed from the team they

In my opinion, all football programs should have Athletic scholarships regardless of division. They all are considered NCAA athletes and all abide by the same rules and regulations. Football is one of America’s favorite pass times and through this sport many athletes have been able to attend Colleges and Universities, all over The United States, for free. Although there are currently 72,788 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football players, only the few that have the opportunity to play Division 1 football are eligible to receive these full athletic scholarships also known as “full rides”. Division 2 is an assortment of more than 300 NCAA colleges and universities that provide thousands of student-athletes the opportunity to compete at a high level of scholarship athletics. Some Division 2 schools also give their athletes full scholarships but these cases are rare, instead, they give partial athletic scholarships to help lighten the load. Athletes that play Division 3 football are often seen as playing “For the love of the game” or “Love of completion” and receive no sort of athletic scholarship for playing a college sport. Players that decide to take the Junior College or JUCO route are playing, more times than not, to attract the attention of Division 1 coaches in order to seize the opportunity of attending college for free. The differences among the divisions emerge primarily in how schools choose to fund their athletics programs.

All men are said to be created equal, in my opinion, not all men. Some have a drive that's greater than most. Everyone wants an Athletic-Scholarship, but not everyone is willing to put in the time, effort, commitment, dedication and preservation to be the best Student-Athlete representing their school. For every good in life comes a sacrifice. Nothing valuable is going to come to you and to obtain something of such value you have to be willing to take a risk. In my life, I’ve taken many risk, some that were life changing and change who I am today. Many of my peers take risks and regret taking them down the line. Taking this risk gave me more time to think about how I wanted to move forward in regards to my future, getting more involved in my community/activities, and dedicate more time into my current task on become a better student-athlete.