Depending on the sport and NCAA division, athletic scholarships can vary significantly. Certain programs are given more scholarship potential than others for a variety of reasons, and there are various limits on how scholarship pools can be allocated. Most of this is dictated by NCAA rules about the number of scholarships that each sport's program is permitted to award.
The important thing to remember is that while some sports offer, more scholarships than others, this does not necessarily imply that these sports offer the best chances of receiving a scholarship. The number of athletes vying for spots, the size of the team, the size and funding ability of the program, and, of course, the number of scholarships approved by the NCAA are all to consider when deciding the easiest sports to get a scholarship in. Lacrosse, field hockey, and baseball are the men's sports with the highest percentages of high school athletes earning college scholarships, while ice hockey, lacrosse, and soccer are the women's sports with the highest percentages of high school athletes receiving collegiate scholarships.
To reiterate, there is a significant distinction between the sports that award the most scholarships overall and the sports in which students have the highest chance of receiving a scholarship. Check out this blog for updates on the sports that offer the most scholarships. For this article, we'll look at which sports are the easiest to get a scholarship in, the factors that influence this, and how this relates to your recruitment process.
Following sports that are the easiest to get a scholarship for?
As previously said, the best men's sports to get a scholarship in are lacrosse, ice hockey, and baseball. Looking at the number of high school athletes who go on to compete in college and earn some sort of athletic scholarship is a good way to gauge this. Let's look at lacrosse, basketball, and baseball to see if the numbers and other factors contribute to these men's sports being the easiest to get a scholarship in.
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Lacrosse
In recent years, there have been about 110,000 high school lacrosse players and over 14,000 college lacrosse players. This means that over 12% of high school athletes progress to the next level, which is higher than in any other sports. Furthermore, there are approximately 75 programs in Division I men's lacrosse, and each program is entitled to award 12.6 athletic scholarships on an equivalency basis, which can be allocated entirely or partially among as many players as the coach chooses. So, with over 1,000 scholarships available in Division I men's lacrosse and just over 3,200 players in the division, a significant number of college lacrosse players will be able to take advantage of these opportunities, and the figures are very close in Division II lacrosse. Finally, since lacrosse is mostly common in the United States, there is little foreign competition compared to other sports.
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Ice Hockey
In terms of making it to college, hockey is a more competitive sport, but the scholarship figures are still favorable compared to many other sports. In high school hockey, there are typically around 35,000 players, with around 3,500 going on to compete in college. This means that about 10% of players will go on to compete at some level in college, which is still a good yield when compared to other sports. Athletic scholarships, on the other hand, are only awarded at Division I and Division II levels (this applies to all sports), which account for about half of the 3,500 collegiate athletes. Athletic scholarships, on the other hand, are only awarded at Division I and Division II levels (this applies to all sports), which account for around half of the 3,500 college athletes. Men's hockey is an equivalency sport, similar to lacrosse, and teams in Division I are required to award 18 full scholarships around the team, which is a large number in comparison to other sports. With about 60 programs and 1,700 total participants in Division I Men's Hockey, there are over 1,000 scholarships available for these players, which is a very high ratio.
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Baseball
Even though baseball is a much larger sport than lacrosse and hockey, the odds of receiving a scholarship are still high as compared to other sports. In the United States, there are over 500,000 high school baseball teams, with over 11% of those players going on to compete at the college level. Teams in Division I Men's Baseball are allowed to offer 11.7 equivalency scholarships. With 300 programs and 10,000 total athletes in Division I, athletic scholarships are available for around 35% of the field, which is a significant amount as compared to other sports.
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Soccer
Women's soccer is extremely common, with over 380,000 high school players participating. In general, about 10% of these players will progress to a college roster spot at some stage, which, as we previously said, is a decent rate. The NCAA allows Division I Women's Soccer programs to award 14 equivalency scholarships each season, which is on the higher end of the spectrum as compared to other female sports. Also, there are over 330 Division I women's soccer schools in the division, with over 9,500 total athletes.
