Soccer scholarships for women are available at most colleges and universities.
Women's soccer scholarships are available at nearly all colleges and universities in the United States that host soccer programs. Scholarships for soccer, unlike other sports, are classed as "equivalency sports," meaning that full-ride scholarships are rarely given in order to equally distribute partial scholarships among players who are recruited. College soccer is highly competitive, and often it is much easier to obtain a scholarship from a smaller, lesser known college or university.
Scholarship Applicants
In order to receive a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) soccer scholarship in this highly competitive realm, young women must be seen by college scouts. Most likely to receive scholarships are students who play on a youth national team. A more recent tactic has been to create a DVD of a player playing and submit it to college scouts across the country. If interested, the scouts will respond.
NCAA Division Scholarships
The NCAA is divided into three divisions. Schools fall into these divisions based on the size of their athletic programs, and are awarded scholarship funds on that basis. NCAA Division 1 Schools are allowed 9.9 scholarships for men and 12 scholarships for women. NCAA Division 2 Schools are allowed 9 scholarships for men and 9.9 scholarships for women. NCAA Division 3 schools are not awarded any scholarship funds. Typically, schools with the most prestigious sports programs fall into Division 1 sports, with smaller colleges and universities playing in Division 2 sports.
Junior College Scholarships
The National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association offers college soccer scholarships for students attending a junior or community college. These scholarships are awarded to 18 women at each school. While these are full-ride scholarships, the school can choose to divide the scholarships into partial scholarships in order to offer more aid to their players overall. They can likewise choose to substantiate the given amount with funds of their own.
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