A look at sports scholarships

Despite economic woes across the state, athletic scholarships, which receive entirely private funding, are safe from the drastic cuts.

University athletic scholarships are fully funded through private money from the Virginia Student Aid Foundation, which according to University Athletic Director Craig Littlepage is the only source of athletic scholarships.

We are "not a line-item in the University budget," Littlepage added.

Most of the money is raised through direct solicitation gifts. After the VSAF raises the money it gives it to the Athletic Department, which then allocates the money to the different sports at the University. Each college and university may offer a certain maximum number of scholarships based on the number of sports and teams they have. The University may offer 308 scholarships.

NCAA rules also determine the maximum number of scholarships that can be offered in each sport. Coaches make the decisions about how many scholarships to offer and whether they will cover the partial or full cost of a University education.

Athletes may receive one of two types of scholarships, depending on the sport. At the University, football, men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball and women's tennis are "head-count sports" and offer "headcount scholarships," meaning that any amount of aid, whether it be $1 or a full scholarship, counts as one scholarship toward the 308 maximum they can offer. Littlepage said some head-count sports, such as football and basketball, generally offer full scholarships to athletes, but that all head-count sports did not necessarily offer full scholarships.

All other sports at the University are "full-time equivalency" sports, meaning their scholarships are pro-rated. Therefore a coach can offer to cover half of what a student would pay to attend the University and it would subsequently only count toward half of one full scholarship out of the number of possible scholarships allotted to the sport.

Currently, 438 University students receive athletic scholarships, but not all of those students receive full scholarships -- VSAF now has enough money to fund the equivalent of 284 full scholarships.

With the ability to fund 284 of its 308 maximum scholarships, the VSAF can fund 92 percent of its total possible scholarships for all sports at the University.

"There are a small number of schools nationally that are [100 percent] funded," Littlepage said. Among peer institutions, the University is one of the top 10 to 15 schools for raising scholarship money, he added.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Coast Conference, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the Educational Foundation fully funds all athletic scholarships and athletic capital projects through an endowment.

UNC has 28 sports, and all sports have a separate scholarship pool excluding cross-country, indoor and outdoor track. NCAA regulations allow the school to fund a maximum of 336.1 scholarships, and UNC currently can fund 306 scholarships.

At the University, athletics funding projects are moving forward despite educational funding concerns among other parts of the University. Littlepage said the VSAF is launching aggressive funding efforts and, if all goes as planned, will be able to provide full funding for all of its athletic scholarships in three years, he said.

Men

Above: The total scholarships funded by the Virginia Student Aid Foundation for 2002 as decided by the Athletics Department and team coaches for their individual sports. Some coaches do not use all their allotted scholarship allowances in any given year.

Read More

Former Congressman Will Hurd visits U.Va. to discuss voters’ trust in Congress

By Sophie Long | 3 hours ago

 During the event, Hurd and Lawless discussed the best ways to increase public confidence in Congress.

---

January Term courses provide opportunities for hands-on and experiential learning

By Caroline Hagood | Yesterday

J-term courses provide students with an opportunity to earn class credit towards their degree or major program.

---

U.Va. Health launches mobile care unit to bring healthcare to low-income communities

By Grace Little | 2 days ago

 The mobile care unit van will visit the Fifeville and Southwood neighborhoods of Charlottesville twice per month.