I agree with the above - this is VERY sport-specific. Football is different than rowing, which is different than lacrosse. And boys and girls recruiting are also quite different for a variety of reasons.

Keep this process narrow and local at first. Start by identifiying which older kids on your DC's club and high school teams went on to play at the college level in the past 1-5 years.

Make a list of the schools and the kids, reach out to a few of those kids' parents (ask the coaches to make intros, if necessary), and ask them about their experience and what you and your DC need to know as you get started.

Our experience is that parents who have been through it already are very generous and willing to share what they've learned. It's a long and exhausting process, and it feels good to pass along to those coming up next.

Also, there are often strong pipelines from certain clubs and high schools to specific college teams. You want to leverage all of that first to understand the process, then expand to a broader search, if needed.

Good luck. Again, it's exhausting and when all is said and done, the ROI is often much, much smaller than people realize.

FCS schools like Bucknell, Lehigh, and Richmond can offer up to 63 full football scholarships and can divide these among players. To get an idea of how many athletic scholarships are being awarded overall, you should check section H2 on the Common Data Set (CDS), though it doesn't provide a breakdown by individual sports.
According to the CDS:

-Bucknell has 178 scholarship athletes with an average award of $51,000
-Lehigh has 273 scholarship athletes with an average award of $47,000
-Richmond has 254 scholarship athletes with an average award of $42,000
-William & Mary has 259 scholarship athletes with an average award of $33,000
-or comparison, Virginia Tech has 474 scholarship athletes with an average award of $28,000

If your son is interested in playing football at these schools, I recommend attending their summer football camps to gain exposure. Patriot League teams can make offers to recruits during their junior year of high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sport
What level of academics
D1 or D3
Boy or girl
Full pay or not.

All of these matter.

Football, high academic level. Only D1 would likely be Ivy or similar. Per above, do not want to be full pay.

This is trickier because none of the academic D1s in the Patriot League play in the "real" D1 college football division.

While unlikely, at least all the other sports do compete for the NCAA D1 national championships, while football is relegated to competing for the D1 FCS championship (which nobody cares much about...but even then, it's always won by like North Dakota State or Montana State or whatever).

William and Mary is a school that comes to mind as one that I do believe awards a number of football scholarships and does play some FBS rivals. Richmond as well maybe?

Anonymous wrote:This is very sport and school dependent.

Pay attention to:
1) Is the scholarship a set amount, or a percentage of tuition....keep in mind that an offer for 1/2 tuition for example still means you have full room and board and fees.
2) Is the scholarship guaranteed at all...most are performance based or renewable year to year...can you afford the school or will they have to transfer if they get injured or just don't want to play anymore?

My daughter turned down D1 rowing scholarship offers that were 1/2 tuition for huge merit aid scholarship at a D3 school. The merit aid is guaranteed for all four years even if she gets hurt.

What kind of D3 school?

Anonymous wrote:Totally depends upon the sport and school, and what the coach happens to need that year. I don't know about bucknell specifically, but schools of that tier often offer "academic" scholarships to good students who are athletes - they aren't going to talk about this actively, it's something that you feel out during the recruiting process. I would target just schools that you know offer academic merit - that's a good proxy for who would give money to an athlete. Have your athlete register in all the portals, and have the kid ask as part of the first call "Do you offer scholarships for atheletes? and "Would I be eligible for an academic merit scholarship if I apply early decision?" If you are looking at Bucknell, I happen to know that Lehigh does offer merit for sports if that's of interest.

If you are looking at ivys, i would explore that path a bit more - if you have multiple kids in college, you might be surprised at the level of aid you can get - ivys are more generous than other schools here. If a coach is interested, ask them to connect you to the financial aid office and they can often give you a good sense of what you are eligible for.

Thanks, this is good info.

Anonymous wrote:What sport
What level of academics
D1 or D3
Boy or girl
Full pay or not.

All of these matter.

Football, high academic level. Only D1 would likely be Ivy or similar. Per above, do not want to be full pay.

My kid’s Ivy only took 3 European recruits, 1 from very high level pro academy and a sophomore portal transfer.

Friends on the sport. Its a no-go for the American kid of even very good level coming directly out of HS.

What sport
What level of academics
D1 or D3
Boy or girl
Full pay or not.

All of these matter.

This is very sport and school dependent.

Pay attention to:
1) Is the scholarship a set amount, or a percentage of tuition....keep in mind that an offer for 1/2 tuition for example still means you have full room and board and fees.
2) Is the scholarship guaranteed at all...most are performance based or renewable year to year...can you afford the school or will they have to transfer if they get injured or just don't want to play anymore?

My daughter turned down D1 rowing scholarship offers that were 1/2 tuition for huge merit aid scholarship at a D3 school. The merit aid is guaranteed for all four years even if she gets hurt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport, but generally speaking the only kids getting full/half athletic scholarships at academic D1s are the kids that are impact players. Stanford and Duke give athletic scholarships to international students, or American kids that will go pro. Bucknell gives scholarships to kids that could play at much higher level, but drop down for $$. Most athletic scholarships are $2k-$10k, just to make the kids feel good. NiL money might be different, depending on sport.

This isn’t correct for Stanford and Duke and sport dependent.

Stanford and Duke provide full scholarships to all football and basketball players (that are officially rostered…they all recruit above the roster limits right now which will change) because that is how their conferences operate.

The big question is what everyone will do once the NCAA settlement is signed. As an example, University of Texas now plans to provide 100% scholarships to all recruited athletes (with roster sizes now reduced for the most part under the new settlement). This includes sports like crew where they announced 100% of the team will receive 100% scholarships.

I doubt Patriot League D1s will participate in this arms race…though maybe they offer more than they are offering?

True. I was thinking about non-revenue equivalency sports, like Mens Soccer and Track & Field, etc.

A school like Case Western offers lots of merit aid and at the very least will let you know what you can expect as early as the Summer prior to junior year.

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport, but generally speaking the only kids getting full/half athletic scholarships at academic D1s are the kids that are impact players. Stanford and Duke give athletic scholarships to international students, or American kids that will go pro. Bucknell gives scholarships to kids that could play at much higher level, but drop down for $$. Most athletic scholarships are $2k-$10k, just to make the kids feel good. NiL money might be different, depending on sport.

This isn’t correct for Stanford and Duke and sport dependent.

Stanford and Duke provide full scholarships to all football and basketball players (that are officially rostered…they all recruit above the roster limits right now which will change) because that is how their conferences operate.

The big question is what everyone will do once the NCAA settlement is signed. As an example, University of Texas now plans to provide 100% scholarships to all recruited athletes (with roster sizes now reduced for the most part under the new settlement). This includes sports like crew where they announced 100% of the team will receive 100% scholarships.

I doubt Patriot League D1s will participate in this arms race…though maybe they offer more than they are offering?

Totally depends upon the sport and school, and what the coach happens to need that year. I don't know about bucknell specifically, but schools of that tier often offer "academic" scholarships to good students who are athletes - they aren't going to talk about this actively, it's something that you feel out during the recruiting process. I would target just schools that you know offer academic merit - that's a good proxy for who would give money to an athlete. Have your athlete register in all the portals, and have the kid ask as part of the first call "Do you offer scholarships for atheletes? and "Would I be eligible for an academic merit scholarship if I apply early decision?" If you are looking at Bucknell, I happen to know that Lehigh does offer merit for sports if that's of interest.

If you are looking at ivys, i would explore that path a bit more - if you have multiple kids in college, you might be surprised at the level of aid you can get - ivys are more generous than other schools here. If a coach is interested, ask them to connect you to the financial aid office and they can often give you a good sense of what you are eligible for.

Depends on the sport, but generally speaking the only kids getting full/half athletic scholarships at academic D1s are the kids that are impact players. Stanford and Duke give athletic scholarships to international students, or American kids that will go pro. Bucknell gives scholarships to kids that could play at much higher level, but drop down for $$. Most athletic scholarships are $2k-$10k, just to make the kids feel good. NiL money might be different, depending on sport.

I am not sure if this belongs here or in Sports - General Discussion.

Looking for info on athletic scholarships to competitive academic schools. Level of play is decent but not talking powerhouse level like Big10. So far, interest from D3 and a couple Ivies, but don't expect to get much need-based aid and will be sending other kids to college. Academic stats are good, so would prob get some merit from D3.

Is anyone familiar with athletic scholarships from schools like Bucknell?