Young athletes and their parents very often ask us this question and while every school can offer slightly different scholarships, there are three types of scholarships that are most common. The first one is the one that every athlete is after, it is the sports scholarship. These are given out by the coaches and can range anywhere from $500 to a full scholarship. In certain cases coaches can even add what is called “cost of attendance” money to a full scholarship to help athletes with additional costs such as travel or to just give them a bit of pocket money during their college career.
The second type of scholarship is also somewhat common for athletes with strong academics. It is called an academic scholarship and can be obtained if the athlete has a high GPA (Grade Point Average) or some strong test scores. These scholarships can very well be combined, which is very important to know and should be a bit of extra motivation for every prospective college athlete to work hard in school as well.
The third most common scholarship is called a “need based scholarship” and can be obtained by students who just don’t have the financial means to pay for college in the US. What schools typically do here, is they look at the combined income of the athlete’s parents and then determine what the athlete should be paying prior to any other scholarship being added.
As mentioned above, there are other scholarship opportunities as well such as financial aid for students from certain countries or scholarships given out by certain departments at the school. However, the most common scholarships are the three mentioned in this article. Obviously at Sports & Study USA we can help you with all of these and we always make sure to ask coaches about every possible scholarship opportunity that the school might have. So don’t worry, we are there for you and will always find you the best possible deal!