Myth #1:  You must be at an NCAA DI university to get an athletic scholarship.

While NCAA schools generally are the ones you will have heard of, or, the ones you may have even seen playing on TV. Due to this exposure, people tend to think that in order to get a sports scholarship, you need to attend one of the universities that compete within this division.

 This is simply not true! as NCAA DII, as well as other governing bodies such as the NAIA, and NJCAA both offer athletic scholarships to their athletes!

This means that even if you aren’t a top recruit at an NCAA DI school as these are highly competitive, there are countless other opportunities to gain substantial athletic aid at universities within different divisions or governing bodies! 

Understanding the difference between these options will not only increase your opportunities for scholarships, but also allows you to find the right environment for you as an athlete. Click here to read another one of our blogs that dives into this topic!

Myth #2: Everyone who is awarded a scholarship is on a full ride.

First off, some important terminology to understand when talking about this topic includes:

• Full ride= Full scholarship
• Head count sport= Every scholarship awarded is a full ride
• Equivalency sport= Scholarship money can be divided between players

Understanding the difference between headcount sports and equivalency sports is the first step to understanding that, NO, not everyone who goes to America “on a scholarship” is on a full ride!

Only six NCAA DI sports are head count sports, namely, FBS football, men’s & women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s tennis, and women’s gymnastics. This means that outside of these sports, athletes are not guaranteed a full ride to join the team.

Coaches in equivalency sports want to build their roster while staying under their scholarship limits, and that means breaking up whatever scholarships they have to spread this money across as many players as possible, while still building the strongest team they can.

Competition for any sort of scholarship allocation is extremely tough with quite literally hundreds of thousands of athletes fighting for a place on these teams.

Amongst others, this is one of the main reasons why KAA advocates for our athletes starting this process as early as possible, as these scholarships get allocated extremely early on!

Myth #3: You don’t need good grades for an athletic scholarship.

This is a wrong assumption for different reasons and in varying situations.

The first instance is in order to receive a scholarship from an NCAA or an NAIA institution, you need to meet academic requirements. This means that regardless of how successful you are as an athlete in high school, you need to maintain good grades throughout high school in order for a university to offer you any sort of athletic scholarship.

Beyond this, you also need to maintain certain grades whilst at university as there are often stipulations attached to scholarship contracts. For example, these stipulations often state that in order to uphold your scholarship, you need to maintain a certain GPA throughout your college career. 

Being a student-athlete truly does take into account both aspects of this, meaning you not only need to be an outstanding athlete, but also a diligent student simultaneously.

What does this mean for me?

With all of this said, getting a significant athletic scholarship isn’t impossible and is something KAA has helped countless athletes secure.

However, I hope this blog has allowed you to understand that getting a scholarship isn’t as cut and dry as you may have previously thought! This process is timely, competitive, and intricate, and can often become extremely difficult to handle on your own!

If you are wanting to find out more about how to begin this process, or still want more information about the ins and outs of athletic scholarships, get in touch with our team here at KAA.

Our 1-hour free consultation is the perfect opportunity to ask any questions you have about this process, without any obligation attached… so let’s get started!