Wanted to do a bit of a one-stop shopping type thread that would cover some FAQs and "need to knows" about receiving scholarships at the various levels of baseball that have not been covered in Bob Howdeshell's article on this site. Please feel free to post corrections and certainly additional information. I will update the thread as information arrives.
1) No college, university or JUCO athletic team is in any way obligated to give a player whom they have asked to be a part of their program a scholarship of any amount. However, if an NCAA affiliated Division I team does offer one, there is a minimum of 25% of the cost of attendance that must be awarded. Div II teams do not have minimum. (Please let me know if the wording here is wrong or misleading or if the information about 25% of COA is wrong. Also need info on NAIA minimums as well as NJCAA. I can't determine if NJCAA must give full rides, or if they can split them. I do know that some states don't allow NJCAA Div. Is to offer room and board. So...).
Div. III schools can offer no athletic aid.
To get information about the maximum number of scholarships allowed at various levels of college ball, see this page on the High School Baseball Web website.
Note* Not all schools will be fully funded. This mean that they do not have the athletic budget to fund the maximum number of scholarships allowed or possibly any. Be sure to check with prospective schools about their funding.
2) At NCAA Div. I and Div. II schools, players may receive both athletic and academic scholarships. But there are some requirements to be met in order for this to happen. According to NCAA, Bylaw 15.02.4.3, in order for academic aid not to be counted as athletic aid, the student athlete must meet one of three criteria.
- Top 10% of the high school graduating class
- Achieve a cumulative high school GPA of at least 3.50
- Score 1200 or higher on the SAT or ACT sum score of at least 105
- Top 20% of high school graduating class
- Achieved a 3.5 cumulative GPA out of 4.00
- ACT Sum score of 100 or SAT of 1140
If a student were to not meet one of the above criterion, their academic monies would be counted against the team's athletic monies. In other words, 25% of academic monies received would instead count as a 25% athletic scholarship. Merit based monies don't count against you.
(Would any one care to update NAIA and NJCAA qualifications?)
Again, please feel free to add pertinent information below, and I will make edits to this thread as they arrive.
Thanks,
TE
