Athletic Funding Through Generous Gifts: Support an Athlete
With the grueling practice schedule and frequent games that comprise the life of a student athlete, figuring out how to pay for school is probably the last thing you want to worry about. Unfortunately, though, the problem of how to find money for college can be even more challenging for student athletes. Federal financial aid can help cover your tuition, but you probably want to avoid student loans, since earning a steady income from athletics can be a difficult task.
Working your way through college while playing a sport can be nearly impossible, unless you’ve discovered a way to attain a college degree without actually devoting any time to coursework. And unfortunately, not everyone who plays sports is lucky enough to land a starting position on the team of a top university or to receive the generous scholarship award that comes with such an honor.
However, this doesn’t mean that student athletes need to give up on the prospect of athletic funding with NIL not available at their school. Student athlete funding should be available from a wide variety of sources, ranging from the university you choose to attend to numerous private funds. Both national and local donors for student athletes can be found, funded by anyone from the local Dollars for Scholars to multinational corporations.
Additionally, you don’t have to be on your college’s official team to receive financial funding.
The most common student athlete scholarships are awards given to players by colleges and universities. These may cover all or part of tuition and can even include a stipend, since being a student athlete is often a full-time job. Students hoping to be recruited by coaches shouldn’t just sit back and hope their dream school finds them. Rather, you should be proactive in conducting a college search to find schools you’d like to attend and teams you’d like to play on, then contact coaches yourself to see if they might be interested in getting you to play on their team and possibly landing you a student athlete scholarship.
"If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.”
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
