Athletic scholarship

An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United States, but in many countries they are rare or non-existent.

United States

In the United States, athletic scholarships are largely regulated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which sets minimum standards for both the individuals awarded the scholarships (in terms of GPAs and standardized test scores) and for the institutions granting them (in terms of the form and value of the scholarships and the proportion of recipients who must ultimately earn degrees).

In 1973, the NCAA split its membership into three divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III. Under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships. Generally, larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football is further divided into the Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) and Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA); the two differ in their postseason system (bowl games in the Bowl Subdi?vision and a 16-team knockout playoff in the Championship Subdivision) and the number of football scholarships they can offer. Some schools or leagues permitted by the NCAA to award athletic scholarships nevertheless prohibit them among their students. An example is the Ivy League, which is part of the Division I Championship Subdivision.

Institutions that engage in misconduct may be stripped of the ability to award a certain number of athletic scholarships. The ultimate penalty, the suspension of an entire athletic program from participation for a set period of time, is popularly known as "The Death Penalty"; it has only been levied twice: against Kentucky Basketball in 1952 and SMU football in 1986.

Other countries

In other countries athletic scholarships are far more restricted.

Canada

In Canada, for instance, Canadian Interuniversity Sport rules ban all entrance scholarships for athletics, and athletes can only get funding once they enter their second year of school. Even then the amount is based on the total team due to Ceiling Rules (Not one student can receive the bulk of the award, it has to be shared among his team members equally). It is not capped as previously mentioned. Ontario, which is home to many of Canada's largest universities, has even stricter rules. Less than a quarter of CIS athletes receive scholarships for their abilities. A major consequence of this is that many of Canada's top young athletes go to a university in the United States, where they can get much larger scholarships. This also may be one reason that two schools in the Vancouver area have attempted to petition to enter the NCAA in recent years. Simon Fraser University unsuccessfully tried to enter the NCAA in 2000, while the University of British Columbia is currently seeking NCAA membership.

**Note - As stated on the CIS website: • tuition and compulsory fees is the maximum amount you can receive for athletic-related awards in an academic year, including athletic-related bursaries.

• the value and quantity of athletic-related awards and bursaries available varies from institution to institution.

• specific awards and bursaries may have additional conditions, such as academic success and citizenship, beyond what is stated here.

• many awards, such as academic awards or awards provided by Sport Governing Bodies or the Federal and Provincial Governments, are not included within the tuition and compulsory fees maximum; please consult your Athletic Department.

• you are eligible to receive an award or bursary at the beginning of your first year at a university (September) if ?you have a minimum entering average of 80% or equivalent.

• alternatively, you are eligible to receive an award at the end of your first year at a university (spring or summer) if you satisfy CIS academic requirements with at least a 65% average or equivalent.

thereafter, you are eligible to receive an award at the beginning of any year if you satisfy CIS academic requirements with at least a 65% average or equivalent in the preceding year.

United Kingdom

Few, if any, UK Universities offer Sports Scholarships, though some Universities such as Bath and Loughborough are centres of sporting excellence. Football clubs in the UK have academies in which to train future talent, and the FA is currently looking at developing a National Football Academy. There is a national sports academy in Sheffield and there are a number of other academies in the UK relating to different sports. The British University Sports Association oversees University Sports and Sports UK also offer scholarships to talented youngsters.

Arguments for and against sports scholarships

Critics have labelled the term to be an oxymoron, stating that physically talented persons selected for their ability to run, jump, throw, kick or hit a ball are retained to staff a school's teams, and paid for their services wh?ile being classified as "scholars". Some critics of the athletic scholarship system have coined the term "jockship" to describe the awards. The term is based on the word jock, a mildly derisive American slang term that plays on the stereotype of the "dumb athlete".

Such scholarships have been characterised as salaries paid to the persons selected in order to induce them to perform for the hiring school. (The characterization of the salary as a "scholarship" is deemed necessary because, generally, at most American colleges, participation as a member of the school's athletic teams is a privilege accorded exclusively to enrolled students, and team members are, in theory, amateurs.)

Supporters point out that many students would be unable to receive a higher education at all, but for the availability of athletic scholarships. Whereas academic scholarships are predominantly awarded to students coming from middle and upper class backgrounds (who could afford a better education in the first place), athletic scholarships tend to go to poorer, less privileged students, more often from minority backgrounds.

External links

• NCAA Website: Academics & Athletes