College Baseball Scholarships - By the Numbers

 

An athletic scholarship is a great way to offset some of the college expense while continuing to play a sport that you love.  However, it should not be relied upon to be the only way.  In fact, according to the NCAA.org website, only 2% of high school athletes are awarded athletic scholarships in college.  A high school baseball player should also place a heavy emphasis on getting good grades and scoring high on the SAT/ACT test.  Both of these can provide a player with more scholarship money for college than an athletic scholarship can.  Also, good grades will make a player much more attractive to a college coach than a player with poor grades because colleges at all levels have a very limited budget for athletic scholarships. A player with outstanding grades or SAT/ACT test scores who can qualify for academic money means the coach can offer him less athletic money thus helping the coach spread his available scholarship money better overall.  It can be the deciding difference between who gets offered between two evenly matched players.

Unlike college football or basketball, college baseball is an equivalency sport which means they do not offer full scholarships, but rather a percentage of a scholarship.  Each division in college has its own rules pertaining to the number of scholarships available. The chart below lists the maximum number of scholarships allowed per division. It is important to remember that these are the maximum number of scholarships allowed but it does not mean that every school in each division will offer the maximum amount allowed.  A school has to be fully funded to be able to offer the maximum amount and many schools, especially junior colleges, are not.  The chart below lists the maximum number of scholarships allowed per division.

Division	Number of Scholarships
NCAA Division 1	11.7
NCAA Division 2	9
NCAA Division 3	0
NJCAA Division 1	24
NJCAA Division 2	24
NJCAA Division 3	0
NAIA	12

NCAA Division 1

NCAA Division 1 teams are allowed 11.7 scholarships.  In Division 1 there is a roster size limit of 35 players and only 27 of those are allowed to be on scholarship.  A player on scholarship must receive at least 25% of a full scholarship.  For Division 1 the scholarship is allowed to cover the full cost of attending college which can include tuition, fees, books, academic related supplies, room and board,  transportation and other similar items. Each university is responsible for determining its own cost of attendance amount.  Obviously Division 1 scholarships are the hardest to obtain and even getting a 50% offer is rare.  Most Division 1 baseball scholarships fall in the 25% to 40% range.  

NCAA Division 2

NCAA Division 2 schools have 9 scholarships available.  There are no rules for the distribution of each scholarship per player so the head coach is allowed to split up the 9 scholarships as he sees fit.  A scholarship at Division 2 includes tuition, fees, books, and room and board.  Good grades are very important at this level because academic aid is relied upon more heavily by coaches due to the limited scholarship budget.

NCAA Division 3

NCAA Division 3 schools offer no athletic scholarships but do not let this deter you if a Division 3 school is a good academic and baseball fit for you.  These schools do typically offer a lot of financial aid and scholarships through the university.  Some Division 3 schools advertise that 100% of their students are receiving some sort of financial aid.  Each school is different so I would recommend visiting with the financial aid office at any Division 3 school you are interested in to get information on all of the available financial aid to future students of the school.  Like Division 2, grades and test scores are crucial to obtaining the most financial aid as possible.

Please visit the website linked below for more information:

NCAA Scholarship Page

NJCAA Division 1

Division 1 junior colleges can offer up to 24 scholarships if the college is fully funded for baseball.  Not all junior colleges are fully funded so they would only be able to offer as many scholarships as the school has funded.  A scholarship at a Division 1 junior college is allowed to cover tuition, fees, books, room and board, up to $250 in course required supplies, and transportation costs one time per academic year to and from college by direct route.  Unlike NCAA Division 1 rules, there is not a minimum percentage of a scholarship required to be offered.  A coach can split the scholarship between tuition, books, room and board, etc.  

A junior college can be a great place to start if a player did not have strong grades in high school.  It offers a second chance to obtain a high GPA and allow a player to transfer to a Division 1 NCAA college and possibly qualify for academic aid as well.  But the flip side is true as well.  If a player attends junior college and does not do well academically, it can severely limit his options for a NCAA Division 1 school in the future. The NCAA and each university will have minimum GPA requirements in order to be able to transfer.

NJCAA Division 2

Division 2 junior colleges can offer up to 24 scholarships just like Division 1 junior colleges.  The same applies as far as being fully funded as well.  A Division 2 scholarship can cover tuition, fees, books, and up to $250 in course required supplies.  Also, the scholarship can be split by the head coach with no minimum percentage required.

NJCAA Division 3

NJCAA Division 3 schools offer no athletic scholarships.  All financial aid is merit or need based.

Please visit the website linked below for more information:

NJCAA Scholarship Page

NAIA

Colleges in NAIA [National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics] have 12 scholarships and there are no rules on how scholarships are to be divided. A full scholarship covers tuition, fees, books and supplies required by courses, room and board.  Similar to other divisions, an NAIA school can only offer the amount of scholarships it has funded.

Please visit the website linked below for more information:

NAIA Website

Conclusion - Grades Matter

Hopefully this article has given you an overall look at the number of baseball scholarship opportunities available at all levels of collegiate play to assist in your research for playing beyond high school.  Also, the importance of good grades cannot be emphasized enough. They will be used to determine a player's acceptance into a school and the amount of merit based financial aid he can receive. In addition, a player's GPA will be used and evaluated for any transfer opportunities in the future.  Good grades will give a player many options while poor grades are going to limit or even eliminate some options.  The bottom line is the same amount of effort a player puts into his baseball career through practice, working out, and training must be done for school as well.