It may be common, it may not be common. Many schools do not like or just dont mix academic and athletic money exactly for that reason. Think about it ,if a school wants to start giving academic money to many of their athletes that athlete had better exceed the normal academic benchmarks that generally warrant that type of scholarship or schools will take advantage of this to give money to athletes under the "academic" umbrella . If an athlete is using their sport to get into a "reach" school than there is little chance to receive academic money.
Three kids, three differents sports, all D1, all got a mix of academic and athletic money. Two out of state schools in different states (one gave an out-of-state tuition waiver as part of her package), one private. Your mileage may vary.
Why wouldn't an athletic program take advantage of whatever academic money could be rewarded? It's there for the scholar, and if the scholar happens to be an athlete it just sweetens the deal. Some athletic departments really value their academics and want kids on the roster who are going to elevate the team GPA. That said, of course it may be harder to get, or retain, academic funds if it's a reach school.
