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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 299 men’s and 262 women’s
programs available for junior golfers to explore
and possibly play for one day.
The NCAA allows Division I programs a maximum of
4.5 scholarships for men and 6 scholarships for
women. Assuming these programs are funded
conservatively at 50% of their maximum and that
the national average cost of education is
$25,000 (tuition, fees, books, room, and board)
as of 2015, there is over $9 million available
in total Division I golf scholarships (men and
women) for each high school graduating class.
The total amount grows significantly if you also
include Division II, NAIA, and NJCAA. Keep in
mind Division III programs do not award athletic
scholarships.
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 may 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 2,228 college
golf programs are currently in place.
So, how big is College Golf? Pretty big I
would say!
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DIV I
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DIV II
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DIV
III
|
NAIA
|
NJCAA
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Total
|
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Men
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299
|
227
|
287
|
196
|
280
|
1289
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Women
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262
|
175
|
189
|
162
|
151
|
939
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