Fully-Funded Programs

Question: Fully-Funded Programs?
Can you tell people how many D-I schools (particularly in the northeast) are fully funded and what that means.

Answer: Fully-Funded Programs

I can tell you what fully funded means, but I can't say with authority how many schools are fully funded. Until 2025, for NCAA Div. I, fully funded meant the coach had a TOTAL of 12 scholarships. However, this changed in 2025 due to revenue sharing legislation scheduled to go into effect in the 2025-26 school year. This is a complex issue because a Div. I school that opts into the revenue sharing could have a softball roster of 25 players with 25 of them on scholarship. And as always, how many or what percentages are available in a given year will depend on who graduates, what amount of money they're getting, how well funded any given program may be.

Fully funded at a Div. II school means the coach has a total of just 7.2 scholarships. Again, how much is available in a given year will depend on who's graduating. As of now, Div. II scholarship limits will not change even if a D-II opts into revenue sharing.

A fully-funded Div. II program can't give every player a full ride. If the coach carries 18 players, do the math. If all 18 athletes were given the same amount, each player would get just over 33 percent. But in all likelihood, major impact players---pitchers, perhaps catchers and shortstops, big home run hitter or the base-stealing outfielder---may receive larger percentatges. That means on the other end of the spectrum will be players who aren't getting anything, or who are only getting a small amount.

Keep in mind, there are many Div. I and II programs where the coach might only have 4, 5 or 6 scholarships to share among all his players. So parents expecting to get off scot-free are generally in for a rude awakening unless their athlete is among the top players in the region and has great travel ball visibility.

On the flip side, academic money is more plentiful, so many coaches--particularly at private schools--will try to package offers for players. Where a lot of parents get confused and make recruiting mistakes is when they hear some guy telling another guy that his daughter got a full ride to School X. What the dad doesn't say---or clarify---most of the time is that the player got $8000 in need-based money, $10000 in academic money (because she's a 4.0/1980 student), she got some work-study, some loan money, and $7500 in softball money.

Inexperienced parents hear this and think, "Well, my player is better than his player, so my player is sure to get a full ride offer from them too." Then, they have a hissy fit when the coach says, "We can offer you $9500 in softball money and whatever else you might qualify for." The parent knows he won't get more than a few thousand in need-based money, and his daughter is a 3.0 student with 990 SAT's, so she's not getting a lot of academic money. So, he's fried because he thinks the coach is trying to put one over on him, when in reality, the coach actually offered his daughter more athletic money. It's just that she doesn't qualify for the other types of money, thus less money is available to her.

Be sure to follow the latest NCAA developments on scholarship amounts, equivalencies and funding as revenue sharing policies change over the next year or two.