Athletic scholarships by sport
Which sports actually have college programs that can pay athletic aid — from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act — joined to Division I House roster ceilings. This is a landscape, not a probability, and not a dollar award.
EADA AY 2024-2025 · 2,037 schools · 1,219 reporting athletic aid · Generated 2026-08-12
Read this first
Not scholarship chances. EADA counts athletes on a roster at schools that may award athletically related aid. A seat is not a check. Most awards are partial. For relative scarcity vs high-school participation, use the aid-seat ranking.
Aid is institution-level. EADA publishes athletic-aid dollars as school totals, not per sport. We mark a program aid-eligible when the school is in an association that allows athletic scholarships and reports athletic aid greater than zero. Division III and NJCAA III cannot award athletic scholarships by rule.
DI ceilings are optional. At House opt-in schools, the old sport scholarship cap is gone and a roster limit is the new maximum. Schools are not required to fund every seat. Track is 45, not a combined 62 with cross country. Full table: Division I roster limits.
Find a sport
Opens the EADA directory for that sport (all genders). Women's flag football is curated — it is not a stable EADA filter yet.
Women’s sports
Program counts from EADA. Aid-eligible columns exclude DIII, NJCAA III, Ivy-style $0 athletic-aid DI, and EADA “other.” DI roster ceiling is the House cap at opt-in schools — a maximum, not a funded roster.
| Sport | Programs | DI programs | Aid-eligible programs | Aid-eligible seats | DI roster ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basketball | 1,857 | 356 | 1,132 | 18,777 | 15was 15 |
| Volleyball | 1,763 | 340 | 1,056 | 19,553 | 18was 12 (+6) |
| Softball | 1,619 | 305 | 1,030 | 23,234 | 25was 12 (+13) |
| Soccer | 1,595 | 342 | 951 | 28,116 | 28was 14 (+14) |
| Cross Country | 1,523 | 355 | 948 | 19,403 | 17was 6 (+11) |
| Track & Field | 1,330 | 346 | 839 | 40,128 | 45was 18 (+27) |
| Tennis | 1,028 | 305 | 634 | 5,758 | 10was 8 (+2) |
| Golf | 976 | 276 | 667 | 5,305 | 9was 6 (+3) |
| Swimming & Diving | 648 | 195 | 327 | 8,314 | 30was 14 (+16) |
| Lacrosse | 544 | 127 | 261 | 7,723 | 38was 12 (+26) |
| Field Hockey | 273 | 81 | 107 | 2,715 | 27was 12 (+15) |
| Beach Volleyball | 202 | 69 | 130 | 2,234 | 19was 6 (+13) |
| Bowling | 195 | 39 | 158 | 1,588 | 11was 5 (+6) |
| Wrestling | 179 | 3 | 93 | 2,247 | 30was 10 (+20) |
| Rowing | 144 | 91 | 99 | 4,954 | 68was 20 (+48) |
| Ice Hockey | 128 | 30 | 39 | 956 | 26was 18 (+8) |
| Water Polo | 106 | 37 | 45 | 979 | 24was 8 (+16) |
| Gymnastics | 101 | 63 | 75 | 1,727 | 20was 12 (+8) |
| Rodeo | 77 | 1 | 65 | 895 | — |
| Equestrian | 61 | 20 | 27 | 1,037 | 50was 15 (+35) |
| Fencing | 45 | 27 | 22 | 339 | 24was 5 (+19) |
| Skiing | 39 | 11 | 17 | 209 | 16was 7 (+9) |
| Squash | 32 | 12 | 5 | 56 | — |
| Sailing | 28 | 14 | 12 | 304 | — |
| Weight Lifting | 28 | 0 | 16 | 176 | — |
| Archery | 24 | 1 | 15 | 181 | — |
| Badminton | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Table Tennis | 7 | 0 | 2 | 8 | — |
| Synchronized Swimming | 5 | 3 | 4 | 78 | — |
Men’s sports
Football and baseball show huge program counts and still sit under roster caps that are tighter than old typical squads. Walk-on seats shrank even as scholarship capacity rose at opt-in DI schools.
| Sport | Programs | DI programs | Aid-eligible programs | Aid-eligible seats | DI roster ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basketball | 1,926 | 358 | 1,158 | 21,652 | 15was 13 (+2) |
| Baseball | 1,670 | 300 | 1,021 | 44,594 | 34was 11.7 (+22.3) |
| Cross Country | 1,458 | 327 | 888 | 19,215 | 17was 5 (+12) |
| Soccer | 1,428 | 206 | 754 | 26,355 | 28was 9.9 (+18.1) |
| Track & Field | 1,245 | 296 | 762 | 39,333 | 45was 12.6 (+32.4) |
| Golf | 1,190 | 301 | 783 | 8,278 | 9was 4.5 (+4.5) |
| Football | 876 | 258 | 544 | 65,667 | 105was 85 (+20) |
| Tennis | 855 | 237 | 508 | 5,363 | 10was 4.5 (+5.5) |
| Swimming & Diving | 544 | 133 | 244 | 6,087 | 30was 9.9 (+20.1) |
| Wrestling | 433 | 71 | 247 | 7,926 | 30was 9.9 (+20.1) |
| Lacrosse | 427 | 72 | 175 | 7,779 | 48was 12.6 (+35.4) |
| Volleyball | 300 | 28 | 128 | 2,553 | 18was 4.5 (+13.5) |
| Ice Hockey | 168 | 43 | 66 | 1,947 | 26was 18 (+8) |
| Water Polo | 90 | 27 | 34 | 823 | 24was 4.5 (+19.5) |
| Rodeo | 76 | 1 | 64 | 1,013 | — |
| Skiing | 39 | 11 | 17 | 203 | 16was 6.3 (+9.7) |
| Fencing | 36 | 22 | 19 | 336 | 24was 4.5 (+19.5) |
| Squash | 32 | 10 | 3 | 39 | — |
| Weight Lifting | 28 | 0 | 16 | 267 | — |
| Sailing | 27 | 12 | 11 | 154 | — |
| Archery | 23 | 0 | 15 | 137 | — |
| Gymnastics | 12 | 9 | 9 | 181 | 20was 6.3 (+13.7) |
| Table Tennis | 9 | 0 | 2 | 9 | — |
Mixed / coed sports
Rifle is often reported as coed. Stunt is in the House table but not yet a stable EADA sport code.
| Sport | Programs | DI programs | Aid-eligible programs | Aid-eligible seats | DI roster ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle | 39 | 18 | 30 | 336 | 12was 3.6 (+8.4) |
Not counted in this EADA snapshot
These sports have a Division I House ceiling or a curated roster, but this extract has no participants under the EADA sport name we join on. That is a snapshot gap — not proof the programs do not exist.
- Acrobatics & Tumbling — DI ceiling 55 (was 14)
- Rugby — DI ceiling 36 (was 12)
- Stunt — DI ceiling 65 (was 14)
- Triathlon — DI ceiling 14 (was 6.5)
- Flag Football — curated / emerging
How this stays current
The hub is computed from versioned snapshots, not scraped from ScholarshipStats.com. Monthly ping is npm run scholarships:check — last ping 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z. If a source is down or unchanged, that source is skipped. Annual EADA ingest is still npm run athletics, and only when the file-list year actually moves.
Last monthly ping 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z
| Feed | Cadence | Owner | Last ping |
|---|---|---|---|
| EADA sport × school participation + institution athletic aidCompiled Excel zip from the Dept. of Education. Primary numerator for programs and aid-eligible seats. If the zip disappears, keep the last snapshot.npm run athletics | Annual | ED compilation | AY 2024-2025 2026-08-12 |
| EADA file-list pingCompares the newest sport zip year to athletics_programs.json. Down or unchanged: no action.npm run scholarships:check | Monthly ping | ED compilation | newest zip AY 2024-2025 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| College Sports Commission roster limitsETag ping of the CSC table. Fingerprint change means review src/lib/house-settlement/data.ts — not an auto-edit.npm run scholarships:check | Monthly ping | Association-owned | etag="e79463b8c89b6f50c1b59e700c685df1" last-modified=Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:15:46 GMT 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| NCAA.org news RSS (scholarship/roster keywords)Official NCAA.org feed. Only titles about scholarships, roster caps, House, or participation counts register as a change.npm run scholarships:check | Monthly ping | Association-owned | 0 keyword item(s) of 10 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| NCAA.com Division I news RSSLiveness only. Item churn is championships coverage, not a data update. | Monthly ping | Association-owned | HTTP 200 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| NAIA.org news RSSNAIA WordPress feed. Liveness only. | Monthly ping | Association-owned | HTTP 200 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| NCAA Research HS→college probability tablesMarker is the NFHS survey year cited in the method note. Update HS_PARTICIPATION when it moves.npm run scholarships:check | Annual | Association-owned | 2024-25 High School Athletics Participation Survey 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| NCAA Research probability methodology PDFSHA-256 of the S3 object. Independent of ED. | Annual | Association-owned | sha256=7270790a8321242f… (177246 bytes) 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| NFHS High School Athletics Participation SurveyMember-association survey. Often a year ahead of the NCAA Research recap. Denominator for /sports/scholarship-odds.npm run scholarships:check | Annual | Association-owned | latest year mentioned 2025-26 2026-09-01T11:38:20Z |
| Women’s flag football program list (curated)Not a stable EADA sport filter yet. No public machine feed — keep the curated roster.npm run flag-football | When rules change | Association-owned | See source page 2026-08-12 |
The 2027 gap
ScholarshipStats.com is shutting down at the end of 2026 because the federal compilations it mixed into its tables are being cut back. NCAA, NAIA, NFHS, and the College Sports Commission publish their own RSS and pages — those are the monthly pings. If the Department of Education stops compiling the EADA zip, this page keeps the last good snapshot and the ping skips that source. It will not invent a newer year.
Schools are still required to disclose athletics data under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act even if the compiled national file goes away. NCAA / College Sports Commission roster limits are a separate feed and do not depend on EADA. We will not scrape ScholarshipStats or pretend per-sport dollar awards exist in EADA.
- Aid-eligible roster scarcity by sport — high-school participation vs aid-eligible seats.
- Division I roster limits — prior scholarship caps vs House ceilings.
- What House v. NCAA actually changed for athletic aid
- EADA sports directory — school-level teams, division, and aid posture.
College program and participant counts from U.S. Department of Education — Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) (AY 2024-2025). Aid-eligible columns: NCAA DI/DII, NAIA, and NJCAA I/II with reported athletic aid > $0; excludes DIII, NJCAA III, Ivy/zero-aid DI, and EADA “other.” Division I roster ceilings from the College Sports Commission / NCAA House implementation — optional funding, opt-in schools only. Not recruiting advice, not financial advice, and not a copy of ScholarshipStats.com.