Can You Combine Athletic Scholarship And Financial Aid?
The recruiting process involves many different factors that contribute to finding the right opportunity for you. An important one is the financial element of enrolling in an institution and knowing what kind of resources exist to make this as affordable as possible. There are a range of ways to cover the cost of tuition, such as athletic scholarships, academic scholarships, financial aid, grants, and others. As a prospective student-athlete, you probably have a lot of questions about how these different packages work and if you can utilize multiple types.
This article will specifically focus on athletic scholarships and financial aid, and what kinds of opportunities exist for receiving and combining these offerings. You can combine athletic scholarships and financial aid, but it’s important to know how the two items can affect one another and how NCAA regulations can affect this process for both the individual and the program.
The specific regulations and policies around athletic scholarship and financial aid combinations can vary based on the division and the school, so it’s helpful to be aware of how everything works and how it might apply to your situation in recruiting.
Combining Athletic Scholarships And Financial Aid
You can combine athletic scholarships and financial aid, but that process and its implications can vary depending on the school and division. Remember that there is a different process and set of regulations for combining athletic and academic scholarships – here we’re specifically talking about athletic scholarships and financial aid as defined above.
Where Is The Financial Aid Coming From?: An important consideration in this process of combining packages is where the financial aid money is coming from. No matter how wealthy a school is or how good its teams are, there is always a limit on the amount of athletic scholarship money that can be given to players.
Support From The University: When a school gives someone an athletic scholarship, that individual is considered a “counter” per NCAA regulations. This means that the athletic money given to the student is counting against the total budget that the program is allotted for athletic scholarships. Once a student-athlete is given money and registered as a counter, there are further NCAA guidelines that apply with regard to his or her overall financial situation. Once a counter, certain types of financial aid might be classified as “counting” toward the athletic scholarship budget, even if the financial aid is not specifically classified as athletic money. As a result, programs and athletes need to find a balance that gives fair opportunities to players based on both need and athletic merit. This situation arises when the financial aid is coming directly from the institution, so the NCAA essentially interprets it as a way to give athletic scholarship money beyond the limitations in place. The purpose is to limit wealthy schools from taking advantage of additional funding and getting a competitive advantage on recruiting athletes.
Sources Not Affiliated With The University: However, there are no issues with combining financial aid that is allocated from sources not affiliated with the university, such as federal loans, government grants, and other outside agencies that provide funding for education. These types of financial aid are seen as more of personal responsibility or government-issued assistance, so they are great resources for giving athletes the ability to afford school and fulfill expenses that aren’t met by the amount of athletic scholarship they receive.
In essence, combining athletic scholarships and financial aid is fully possible with a few exceptions. The key issue is that the NCAA does not want schools providing additional money to athletes that is classified as “financial aid” for the purpose of bypassing their athletic budget limitations. Most other financial aid, given from sources outside of the school, is permissible to be combined with athletic scholarships.
Athletic Scholarships Vs. Financial Aid
Now that you know that you can combine athletic scholarship and financial aid, It can be helpful to define and outline the two types of aid and understand how they differ in this context.
Athletic Scholarships: An athletic scholarship is any amount of money awarded to a player based on his or her athletic ability and expected contribution to the team. Athletic scholarships are entirely separate from other types of financial aid, as they are granted by the school’s athletic department under the discretion of the coach.
Athletic Scholarships By Division: Athletic scholarships are not offered in every collegiate division. Athletic scholarships are only granted in Division I and Division II programs – Division III does not provide any athletic scholarships. Athletic scholarships cover all or part of a student’s tuition, room and board, meals, books, and various school fees/expenses. Additionally, the scholarship capacities and policies differ between Division I and Division II.
Types Of Athletic Scholarships: Different collegiate programs have different scholarship capabilities, and this usually depends on the division. There is more scholarship money available for Division I programs, so most of these schools use a “head count” system, where the coach is able to offer a full scholarship to a specific number of players on the team. Division II schools often have less athletic scholarship money to distribute, so they use an “equivalency” system, where the coach can divide the money among players as partial scholarships. Why is this relevant? The amount of athletic scholarship money available to you will likely impact the rest of your financial planning for school, which is where you may need to add in financial aid, and we’ll discuss this process in depth later on.
Financial Aid: When we talk about “financial aid” in this article, we’re referring to things like grants, loans, and other need-based aid. This does not include Academic Scholarships or other rewards based on similar merits. Financial aid is utilized by a majority of students because the reality is that college is extremely expensive. In sports recruiting, finding the right fit often involves considering the most affordable options, so this is where the idea of combining athletic scholarships and financial aid comes into play. You want to take advantage of every type of financial support available so that more collegiate opportunities become a reality. First, it’s helpful to understand a brief overview of financial aid so you might better understand how it can be combined with athletic money.
Types Of Financial Aid: The most common types of need-based financial aid are grants (such as a Pell Grant), loans, and work-study programs. Most types of financial aid, such as student loans, are forms of debt that need to be repaid overtime in the future. Students receive these loans by applying through FAFSA, which is a federal agency that determines each individual’s level of need and helps provide different financial offerings from that.
Things To Keep In Mind
What Is Considered “Financial Aid”: Remember that in this article, we are specifically focusing on financial aid with regard to athletic scholarships. This is types of aid that are generally need-based, and this does NOT include academic scholarships. Academic scholarships are awarded on merit from high test scores or GPA, and an entirely different set of rules apply for combining athletic scholarships and academic scholarships. Therefore, it’s helpful to know these different classifications and how exactly they could potentially supplement an athletic scholarship.
Exceptions And NCAA Rules: Combining athletic scholarships and financial aid is entirely permissible in most cases, with some exceptions. The key exception occurs when the financial aid is given by the institution itself where the student-athlete is enrolled. In this case, the financial aid is actually recognized as athletic scholarship money by the NCAA. The NCAA restricts this because every school must adhere to limits on athletic scholarship money that can be given out. They simply don’t want wealthy schools disguising athletic scholarship money as “financial aid” so that they can get more recruits without exceeding the athletic budget.
When Is It Possible To Combine?: Aside from the exception described above, it is usually permissible to combine financial aid with your athletic scholarship. Regardless, it’s always a good idea to check things over with the athletic department, the school’s financial office, and the NCAA to ensure that your plan is acceptable. Remember, the big picture is that college is very expensive, but as a recruit there are plenty of resources to make your opportunities more affordable. Very few athletes receive full scholarships, so if you’re offered a partial scholarship and need more funding, there are various types of financial aid available that can be combined with whatever athletic money you receive.