Swim Scholarships
With the dramatic increase in college prices in recent years, students need all the help they can get when it comes to paying for college. Luckily, there are diving and swim scholarships available to those students who show exceptional talent in the areas of swimming and diving while in high school. Some might question why a school would offer swimming scholarships to someone that is good at swimming and diving. The truth is that colleges need to recruit the best swimmers and divers for their swim teams, and therefore they offer incentives in the form of college swimming scholarships to get the best athletes to come to their schools.
GENERAL SWIM SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
Simply put, a scholarship for swimming and diving is simply a swim scholarship that is awarded to high school students who excel in swimming and show promise for the future. The individual schools typically hand out swim scholarships, and the governing body for the scholarships is the NCAA. Typically, there are about 9.9 swimming scholarships awarded from each school in Division I and 8.1 scholarships awarded per school in Division II. Division III has no scholarships for swimming or diving. Women’s swimming usually gives out fourteen scholarships per school for Division I and 8.1 scholarships per school in Division II. These swim scholarships can be in the form of full ride, meaning the student gets everything paid for, including room and board. They can also be in the form of partial swimming scholarship, where the student athlete is still expected to pitch in some money.
QUALIFICATIONS
If you’re reading this article, and you’re on your swim team at school, you may be thinking you’re guaranteed a swimming and diving scholarship. However, there are some requirements that need to be met, and typically these swim scholarships are merit based, meaning you are more likely to be awarded a swimming and diving scholarship if you’re a good swimmer. Below are some of the general requirements that should be fulfilled before applying for swimming and diving scholarships: • You must be between the ages of 18-24 to be eligible for a swim scholarship. • You must reside in the United States to use the scholarship. You don’t have to be a citizen, but this scholarship for swimming is to be used only at schools in the United States. • The best time to apply for these scholarships is during your senior year of high school or shortly after graduating.
HOW GOOD DO I HAVE TO BE TO RECEIVE SWIMMING SCHOLARSHIPS?
This is a very subjective question, and is open to debate. However, there is a general consensus that you should at least be competing on the state level in order to stand a chance of receiving a swimming and diving scholarship. There have been students who have never been to state that still received a scholarship, but chances are they came from a high school with a nationally known swimming team so the college recruiters would actively pursue swim members from that school. If you’re consistently competing on the national stage and doing well, then you have a very high chance of receiving an offer for a athletic scholarship to swim.
HOW TO APPLY
Unless you’re a nationally recognized high school swimmer, you probably won’t be actively approached and courted for a swim scholarship. Don’t worry though, you can still stand a chance of receiving a swimming and diving scholarship, you just have to go through the application process. The governing body of all sports scholarships is the NCAA, and therefore you must apply through their website if you’re interested in obtaining a swimming and diving scholarship. Generally, these athletic scholarships are primarily merit based, however financial need is also taken into consideration. If you come from an impoverished family, but are an above average swimmer but not outstanding, you still stand a good chance of receiving a full ride scholarship. Scholarships for swimming are generally due in March of the year you are planning on attending school.
What you Need to Know about a University Athletic Scholarship