NCAA Division I rules include a limit on the amount of financial aid that may be awarded in total to an athletics team. The NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program (APP) immediate scholarship penalties often reduce the maximum scholarship limits for teams that under perform academically. This document outlines the various types of financial aid limits in an effort to help the public and media understand the APP penalty reports.
Scholarship limits exist for all NCAA sports. Within NCAA rules, sports are categorized as either “head-count” or “equivalency” sports. Financial aid rules for head-count sports limit the number of student-athletes who may receive full scholarships for their sport. For example, in men’s basketball not more than 13 student-athletes may receive athletics scholarships, regardless of the value of each individual scholarship. As such, a total of 13 scholarships may be awarded to only 13 student-athletes. Financial aid rules for equivalency sports limit the total value of scholarships offered in a particular sport, with no limit on the number of student-athletes who may receive a portion of the overall value. For example, currently in the sport of baseball the value of 11.7 scholarships may be awarded to an unlimited number of student-athletes. As such, baseball scholarships in varying amounts may be provided to 25 student-athletes, as long as the collective total is not greater than the value of 11.7 scholarships at that institution. [Note: Baseball financial aid rules are scheduled to change in 2008. See the NCAA Web site for additional information.]
A “counter” is a student-athlete who receives scholarship money that is counted against an overall team limit in each particular sport. While there are varied types of scholarships that are “countable”, most student-athletes are considered to be “counters” because they have received financial aid based on their athletics ability.
An “initial counter” is a student-athlete who is receiving a countable scholarship for the first time in a particular sport. For example, freshmen or transfer football student-athletes on athletics scholarships are considered to be initial counters in their first year on campus.
In head-count sports, each counter or initial counter is factored as one scholarship toward the team’s limit, regardless of the actual value of the individual’s scholarship. Also, each sport has a maximum number of scholarships that may be provided. A full scholarship includes tuition and fees, room and board, and required course-related books. It is possible for a student-athlete in a head-count sport to be awarded only a portion of a full scholarship (e.g., tuition only). However, in a head-count sport, the student-athlete still would count as one scholarship toward the maximum team limit, even if he or she received only a partial grant-in-aid.
For example, Division I women’s basketball is a head-count sport. A women’s basketball team may provide a total of 15 scholarships. Since each person receiving athletics aid counts as one toward the team limit, there can be not more than 15 women’s basketball student-athletes on scholarship at any one time.
In equivalency sports, the team scholarship limit is based on the total value of scholarships provided, rather than the number of individuals receiving athletics aid. As such, the value of one full scholarship often is divided among two or more student-athletes. In total, each sport is assigned a maximum value of scholarships that can be divided among team members.
For example, the team limit in the equivalency sport of men’s cross country is five total grants-in-aid; however, more than five student-athletes may share the total value of five scholarships. In addition, each student-athlete may not receive a scholarship amount that is greater than the value of one total scholarship (i.e., tuition and fees, room and board and required course-related books).