# So how does stripping schools of scholarships work in the NCAA? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 20, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886 "2011-12-20T21:06:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/21 "2011-12-21T19:55:49Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Third, since it is in Division 1, it cannot give out a scholarship to someone who, for example, is on both the football and track teams and count it either as “just” a track scholarship or as 1/2 a football and 1/2 a track scholarship. Division 1 has a rule where each multi-sport scholarship athlete is counted against one, and only one, sport; in most cases, the school gets to choose which sport, but if one of the sports is (for men) football, basketball, ice hockey, or (if the student is also on the water polo team) swimming, or (for women) basketball or volleyball, the student has to count in that sport (the sports are listed in “order of precedence”, so a football player on scholarship must have it counted as a football scholarship). Nitpick: Actually, dual-sport athletes in D1 count as scholarship athletes in _both_ sports. A teammate of my daughters in high school is on a volleyball scholarship at a major college, and due to injuries and defections on the basketball team, they found themselves seriously short of big girls. My daughter’s friend, who played basketball in high school and is 6’2", dressed for a single game, never leaving the bench, but was at that point on a basketball scholarship and counted towards the NCAA limit for the basketball team. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/22 "2011-12-21T21:34:42Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Actually, dual-sport athletes in D1 count as scholarship athletes in _both_ sports. A teammate of my daughters in high school is on a volleyball scholarship at a major college, and due to injuries and defections on the basketball team, they found themselves seriously short of big girls. My daughter’s friend, who played basketball in high school and is 6’2", dressed for a single game, never leaving the bench, but was at that point on a basketball scholarship and counted towards the NCAA limit for the basketball team. Your anecdote, with the information given, does not contradict **That Don Guy** ’s statement, actually. Given what he said about the “order of precedence”, she definitely would count as being on a basketball scholarship when she signed onto the basketball team. The question is, did she still count as being on a _volleyball_ scholarship at that point? Or did her brief sojourn into hoops free up a scholarship for the volleyball team? ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/23 "2011-12-22T01:05:08Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > Your anecdote, with the information given, does not contradict **That Don Guy** ’s statement, actually. Given what he said about the “order of precedence”, she definitely would count as being on a basketball scholarship when she signed onto the basketball team. The question is, did she still count as being on a _volleyball_ scholarship at that point? Or did her brief sojourn into hoops free up a scholarship for the volleyball team? The latter. “One student, one sport” means she no longer counted against the volleyball scholarship limit. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/24 "2011-12-22T03:15:05Z")
I think things have changed since 1996, but I had to give up an Academic scholarship (full tuition) in order to take an Athletic scholarship (tuition, room and board). I was told at the time that any combination of funds that included athletic money had to be counted as if all of it came from athletics. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/25 "2011-12-22T14:56:46Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > I think things have changed since 1996, but I had to give up an Academic scholarship (full tuition) in order to take an Athletic scholarship (tuition, room and board). I was told at the time that any combination of funds that included athletic money had to be counted as if all of it came from athletics. Pardon me for asking, but was the academic scholarship offered by the school, or by an “outside” source? The current bylaws do count “academic” scholarships not based on need that are given by the school as counting toward the athletic scholarship limit. (Also, going by your screen name, am I correct in assuming that you competed on the Swimming & Diving team?) ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/26 "2011-12-22T18:15:53Z")
Yeah, exactly. The academic scholarship was offered by the school. We were hoping that I would be able to take less money from the Athletic side, freeing it up to recruit better swimmers, but no such luck. If I recall, my friends in Georgia could take the HOPE scholarship (lottery funded, academically based tuition/books) and that didn’t count against them for athletics. Quite a competitive advantage in recruiting. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886/27 "2011-12-22T22:19:45Z")
In the mid-90s, Nebraska was pretty much dominating college football. We went 60-3 from 1993-1997 and won three national titles. People were left wondering how an agricultural state college that wasn’t a recruiting hotbed could do so well. So, a conspiracy about “county scholarships” was created. Nebraska could get around the scholarship limit by offering one “academic” scholarship per county, that would not count against the NCAA total. It was ridiculous on a number of levels: 1. While we all love the story of the corn-fed farm boy who tosses linemen like hay bales, most of our skilled players came from out-of-state and two or three urban counties in Nebraska. The state’s population is less than 2 million. USC and Miami probably have more people in a 20-mile radius of their campuses. Arthur County (population 460) wouldn’t net too many Division I-A players. 2. Even if I take off my rose-colored glasses and admit “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying”, would the NCAA be fooled by such a transparent gimmick? Do shenanigans happen? Undoubtedly. But let’s give Nebraska a little bit of creativity here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-does-stripping-schools-of-scholarships-work-in-the-ncaa/606886.md?page=1)