BOTC felt that his was a good time to remind our readers about the pure lacrosse scholarship numbers in the NCAA Division I and Division II programs. Many parents and players believe that athletic scholarships are abundant. Less than half of the players Division I or Division II receive any athletic scholarship money at all, and most of those are not “full rides.” BOTC has discussed previously why the full ride concept a more myth than reality based on the number of scholarships which can be funded versus the number of players on any given team.
How the money is split depends on the coach and the positional needs of the program each year. There is no set formula.
The NCAA allows each Division I lacrosse program 12.6 scholarships for men and 12.0 for women. In Division II, there are 10.8 scholarships for men and 9.9 for women.
At the moment, there are 59 Division I and 47 Division II programs that offer lacrosse scholarships for men. That's a total of 1,251 scholarships working under the assumption that all of these programs are fully funded.
There are 89 Division I and 71 Division II programs that offer scholarships for women, a total of 1,771. The numbers above may be reduced, as not all colleges are fully funded to the maximum number of scholarships allowed, so this is good information to ask about in the recruiting process.
Remember that these awards are SPLIT across four years of college recruits so you only have access, in general to 25% of the scholarship pool and generally, awards for upper classmen can inch higher over the years.
When planning your college visits, be sure the topic of available scholarships for your player's graduation year is discussed in detail to avoid the surprise of sticker shock after a commitment is made.
