Bruce Mesa Sr. knew a football scholarship could be a possibility when recruiters started visiting to see his son play as a junior at Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
An offensive lineman, Bruce Mesa Jr. was one of the few in the school’s history to play all four years on the varsity team.
Mesa Sr. knew his son wasn’t going to play for a NCAA Division I school — at 6’2″ Mesa Jr. didn’t have the height — but by focusing on smaller colleges, Mesa Jr. received some generous scholarship offers.
“He got a very handsome offer from St. Xavier,” Mesa says, adding that St. Xavier University‘s estimated cost of attendance is more than $45,000 per year. “He had to take out a Stafford loan for $5,500. They paid the rest, but you do still have to pay a portion.”
Athletic scholarships are rare. Only about 1 to 2 percent of undergraduate students in bachelor’s degree programs receive these awards, says Kathryn Randolph, contributing editor at FastWeb, an online scholarship matching and search service. But the amount athletes receive is about $1 billion a year, she says.
[Explore the ins and outs of getting an athletic scholarship at Division I schools.]
One of the biggest misconceptions among prospective student athletes and their families is that everyone gets a full ride, says Joe Leccesi, head recruiting coach manager at Next College Student Athlete.
Here are four myths and the truths about athletic scholarships.
Myth 1: Everyone on an athletic scholarship gets a full ride. Only some sports offer full-ride scholarships. These are called “head count” sports, Leccesi says. In the NCAA, these include only football for Division I-A and basketball for Division I.
For instance, an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team is allowed 85 scholarships per year for 85 athletes. These cannot be divided among more athletes, Leccesi says.
For women, basketball, volleyball, tennis and gymnastics offer full-ride scholarships.
All other sports are called “equivalency” sports, which means the available scholarships for each team can be divided among players. There are no restrictions on how many athletes can be on scholarship, and the allotted number of awards can be divided in whichever way the coach chooses, says Leccesi. This includes all other Division I sports and all NCAA Division II sports, NAIA sports and junior colleges.
Myth 2: Scholarships are only available for football, basketball and baseball. Partial scholarships are available for everything from golf to water polo to rowing.
Lecessi says students should weigh a partial athletic scholarship against other financial aid offers. They may actually receive more financial aid from a school with a large endowment that can offer merit-based scholarships.
“Sometimes even when you get an athletic scholarship, it’s not going to be your best financial offer,” he says.
[Discover these college scholarships for lesser-known sports.]
Myth 3: You have to be able to play at the Division I level. Although NCAA Division I schools may be among the most prominent ones to offer athletic scholarships, talented student athletes can look to Division II, junior colleges or other conferences for scholarship offers.
Mesa Sr. says his son found he got a more lucrative offer from St. Xavier, which is in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
He says that an NCAA school “may tell you they want you to come play football, but they may only offer you 10 percent of your tuition and room and board.”
Division III schools do not award athletic scholarships, but they do grant other forms of financial aid, Randolph says. Often, schools will take into account extracurricular activities, such as sports, when awarding merit scholarships, she says.
“These Division III schools have athletic teams, and they do want good players on their teams,” she says. “They do take into account if a student is a student athlete, and they’re looking to recruit them to come to that Division III school.”
[Learn more about esports college scholarships.]
Myth 4: You don’t need good grades for a college scholarship. When students sign a letter of intent to play at a school, Randolph says there will frequently be stipulations attached, such as maintaining a minimum GPA and good conduct. Randolph advises students to be aware of what they’re committing to before they sign a letter of intent.
Mesa Sr. says it was clear that grades during the recruiting process and then for maintaining a scholarship were important to interested colleges. “It’s a job,” he says.
“They’re paying for your education. They’re paying for your food, room and board and everything else. Something is expected of you. You’re going to go out and perform on the football field, but you’re also going to be a person of character. You’re going to be a good ambassador of the school.”
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4 Myths About Athletic Scholarships originally appeared on usnews.com