There are five classifications in College
Golf:
NCAA Divisions I, II, and III (non-
scholarship), NAIA, and NJCAA (Junior
College). In Division I alone, there are 290
men’s and 225 women’s programs available for
junior golfers to explore and possibly play
for
one day.
The NCAA allows Division I programs a maximum
of 4 ½ scholarships for men and 6 scholarships
for women. Assuming these programs are funded
conservatively at 2/3 of their maximum and
that
the national average cost of education is
$15,000 (tuition, fees, books, room, and
board), there is approximately $6.5 million
available in college golf scholarships for
each
high school graduating class. The total
amount
grows significantly if you also include
Division II, NAIA, and NJCAA.
Parents need to understand that a potential
ROI
(return on investment) does exist for all the
money they spend on their junior golfer’s
career. If, however, a full ROI is expected,
they will be disappointed in the long run.
Very few full scholarships are awarded in
men’s
college golf and while more are offered for
the
women, not everyone is guaranteed a full ride
to college.
Outside of Division I, many other
opportunities
exist for graduating high school golfers to
consider. The table below illustrates this
point and recognizes that a total of 1781
college golf programs are currently in
place.
So, how big is College Golf? Pretty big I
would say!
|
|
DIV I
|
DIV II
|
DIV III
|
NAIA
|
NJCAA
|
Total
|
|
Men
|
290
|
192
|
263
|
176
|
216
|
1137
|
|
Women
|
225
|
99
|
142
|
108
|
70
|
644
|
|
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