Where To Find Football Scholarships

Thousands of high school football players annually hitch their college hopes to a scholarship. It’s the way of the world. Fact is many very good players, even excellent football players, will have scant chance of winning the full-ride scholarships every star dreams of.

Football scholarships have become increasingly competitive. NCAA Div I and II both offer elite athletes opportunity to compete for football money, either full (head-count sport in DI) or partial athletic scholarships. But for every 100 dreamy-eyed high school football players, there may be only a couple available scholarships in a Div I school.

NAIA and NJCAA Athletic Scholarships for Football

Two other athletic associations—the NAIA and the NJCAA – offer football scholarships. Division I and II of the NAIA and the NJCAA all may offer varying levels of football scholarships. Most competitive “money” football teams are housed within NCAA Div I. But it’s a myth that it’s the best collegiate football going.

Chances are if you’re good enough to play on an NCAA DI football team you’ll know it early in your high school career. College coaches and recruiters will likely already know your name and be in contact.

Division III Football Scholarships

That’s a fake-out. Division III schools in any of the athletic associations do not offer athletic scholarships. These schools are usually much smaller in student body size and focus on providing an all-around college experience that includes both academics and athletics. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have competitive football teams.

When you think beyond the box you’ll realize that schools have other financial leverage to help good athletes with solid academic records come aboard. Many schools work very hard to balance excellent athletics with excellent academics, something the Div I schools may be a bit more lax about. At this level if you’re a student football player with a rock solid game record and killer academics to boot AND if you demonstrate sufficient financial need, you could easily be awarded a nice academic scholarship or grant.

Truth is, smaller Div III schools woo good athletes that are less interested in the stress of being on a full-ride scholarship.