What are the Different Types of Scholarship Offers I Could Get?

One of the first surprises for many student-athletes and their families is the disappointingly low number of full-ride athletic scholarships available. On the plus side, there are actually many different types of offers athletes can receive from a school. To better understand the basics of athletic scholarship offers, here are a few key facts you should know:

• Most offers are typically one-year agreements. Although multi-year offers are becoming possible, they are rare.
• Verbal offers from a coach are not binding agreements.
• The NCAA financial aid agreement is contract between an athlete and the school. Since it is a contract, it is important that you fully understand the agreement.

Knowing these terms will give you a better understanding of the offers you may receive. Let’s take a quick look at the most common offers a student-athlete may receive from colleges and universities.

New NCAA Scholarship Limits

Starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, the NCAA will eliminate D1 scholarship limits if a proposed settlement is approved, enabling all sports to distribute scholarships more flexibly among athletes. This change is expected to have a significant impact on college recruiting. Get the latest updates here.

Full-ride scholarship offer

If the proposed settlement is approved, all D1 sports will be able to provide full-ride athletic scholarships to every athlete on their roster. That being said, scholarship availability is still dependent on program funding, which varies by school and sport.

Learn more about full-ride scholarships.

Partial scholarship offer

If the proposed scholarship limits are approved, all NCAA D1 sports will become “equivalency sports” starting in the 2025-26 school year, which means coaches have a pool of scholarship money that they can divide up amongst their team. While not a full ride, a partial scholarship offer can still cover a significant portion of college costs or very little. It may be that one student-athlete on a team gets a scholarship that covers tuition, while a teammate may only get offered a scholarship that covers the costs of books.

Walk-on offers

Not all offers come with a monetary reward. Sometimes, the reward is simply a spot on the roster. Walk-ons are far more common in college sports than most families and student-athletes realize. It’s important to understand the distinctions between the different types of walk-ons as you navigate the recruiting process.

Note: With the new proposed NCAA scholarship rules and roster limits starting in 2025-2026, the exact impact on walk-ons is uncertain and will vary across different sports and schools. To understand how these changes might affect you, stay in touch with coaches and ask about their plans for walk-ons and redshirts, as this can differ significantly between programs.

Preferred walk-on offer

A preferred walk-on offer promises you a roster spot, but you won’t receive any athletic aid.

Can preferred walk-ons earn a scholarship? Yes, scholarships can be earned going into a second season, but nothing is guaranteed. They are, however, typically first in line when scholarship dollars free up. Some student-athletes will turn down scholarship offers at smaller schools to play for a bigger program as a preferred walk-on. But keep in mind, even preferred walk-ons can get cut during try-outs or team camp if they aren’t meeting coach expectations.

Do preferred walk-ons sign on signing day?

Technically, preferred walk-ons don’t have anything to sign on Signing Day, as they aren’t receiving an athletic scholarship. However, walk-ons are an essential part of a successful team, and college coaches want to celebrate their signing, as well. Ask your future coach about having something to sign, especially if your school is throwing a Signing Day party. Don’t forget to rep your new school with some gear!

Recruited walk-on offer

A recruited walk-on offer means there is interest from the coach but no financial assistance, so you must still earn a spot on the team through additional try outs or summer training camp. Although there is no financial assistance or even a guarantee of making the team, some student-athletes still view a recruited walk-on offer as a great opportunity to play at the highest level of competition.

Unrecruited walk-on offer

Typically, this is when a student-athlete qualifies for admission to the school and plans to join the team through an open tryout. In this scenario, there is usually a conversation with the college coach prior to enrollment to confirm the student-athlete will be able to try out for the team.

There is a lot to consider with any type of walk-on offer. This is especially true if you have scholarship offers from other schools.

Read more: The 5 Most Commonly Asked Questions About Being a College Walk-On

Walk-on FAQs

The multi-colored shirts of college sports

While “redshirt” may be a familiar term to many student-athletes and their families, there are a number of different shirt color terms that designate a student-athlete’s eligibility status. The color also shows how a coach sees a recruit contributing to the program in both the short-term and long-term.

Redshirt scholarship offer

Typically, a redshirt athlete will have a scholarship but cannot compete for one year. They will participate in all team activities like practice, training, and receive benefits such as academic tutoring, but they will not see any playing time. However, they will get an opportunity to play four seasons in five years.

Reasons for being redshirted include a coach wanting a year to physically prepare an athlete for college competition or a chance for a student-athlete to recover from an injury.

An “academic” redshirt would be a freshman who may not meet the academic eligibility requirements coming out of high school.

Grayshirt scholarship offer

This is one of the more challenging offers from a college coach. A grayshirt is an incoming college freshman who postpones enrollment for a semester. Instead of enrolling right away in the fall, a grayshirt freshman enrolls in classes for the second term (winter) of freshman year.

During their first semester of college, a grayshirt does not enroll as a full-time student. Instead, they only take part-time classes. A grayshirt also does not join the team, practice with the team or receive a scholarship during their first, part-time semester.

The NCAA allows student-athletes five years to complete four years of sports eligibility after enrolling, so this means a grayshirt NCAA athlete officially starts their athletic eligibility once they enroll full-time.

Most coaches try to be clear about extending grayshirt offers, but some committed student-athletes have been surprised to learn they have been grayshirted as National Signing Day nears.

What is grayshirting in college football? A grayshirt college football player can play in the season a full year after they graduate high school, instead of starting practice competing in games right away.

This is most often done at college programs that over-sign, meaning that they sign more student-athletes than they have room for on the roster. Grayshirting helps college programs sign athletes early, with the intention of having them actually join the team in the next season.

Sometimes, injuries and roster changes can mean grayshirt status can be rescinded and an athlete will be offered a roster spot earlier than expected. But it’s important to have clear and open communication with college coaches about your role on the roster and the possibility of being grayshirted.

Blueshirt scholarship offer

Blueshirting is becoming a more popular (but hardly common) way to creatively manage the number of athletic scholarships. Blue shirt rules allow unrecruited players to be awarded a scholarship at the start of freshman practice. Like a redshirt, they will practice with the team but won’t be allowed to compete for a year. This allows a team that may have too many commits to essentially borrow against their next year’s scholarship total.

The rules are rather strict regarding what is defined as being “unrecruited.” That means there was:

• No official visit
• No in-home coach visit
• No signed financial aid agreement
• No form of athletic aid

Given the recruiting restrictions, it is still a pretty rare occurrence for a student-athlete to have a blueshirt scholarship offer.

Greenshirt scholarship offer

More and more fall sport athletes are getting a jump on their college careers by graduating in December and enrolling a semester early.

The benefits to greenshirting include the chance to get ahead on classes, attend spring training and practice with your new team while on scholarship before the new fall season.

Student-athletes who greenshirt are allowed to play their first year but they can also redshirt and have five years to play four seasons.

Beyond NCAA D1 and D2

Statistics will tell you that only two percent of high school athletes receive athletic scholarships. Student-athletes and their families who have their heart set on playing for a D1 or D2 program should also take a closer look at D3, NAIA, and even junior colleges for financial incentives.

While NCAA D3 schools cannot offer athletic scholarships, 80 percent of D3 athletes receive some type of financial aid. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) reports that its athletes receive on average $7,000 in financial aid. And in the often-overlooked world of junior college athletics, the National Junior College Athletic Association offers full and partial scholarships at more than 500 colleges.