Athletic scholarships are common in the United States and to a certain extent in Canada, but in the vast majority of countries in the world they are rare or non-existent.
The two differ in several ways: Some schools or leagues permitted by the NCAA to award athletic scholarships nevertheless prohibit them among their students.
The three service academies that participate in Division I FBS football (Army, Navy, and Air Force) are effectively exempt from NCAA scholarship limits because all students at those schools, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive full scholarships from the service branch that operates the academy.
In addition to the regulations imposed by the NCAA on the educational institution, the rules governing the provision of athletic scholarship and financial aid are also exhaustive.
As noted above, NCAA bylaws place a cap on the number of student-athletes that participate in a given sport at a particular school, who are eligible to receive institutional aid.
Specifically, it must not exceed the cost of the individual's education otherwise it is considered "pay", which violates an athlete's amateur status.
Joseph B. Johnson, the president of Grambling State University and a representative of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education argued that it "[discriminated] against student-athletes from low-income and minority-group families by introducing arbitrary SAT and ACT cut off scores as academic criteria for eligibility.
Thus, under the revision, an athlete who met either the 2.0 high school GPA or 700 SAT/15 ACT score would be eligible to receive a scholarship, but would be unable to practice with or play for the team for one academic year.
In particular, the NCAA mandates that they sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI), which is effectively an agreement that binds the student-athlete to institution in which they have chosen to enroll.
Prior to the late 19th century, college athletics consisted largely of informal gatherings orchestrated by students.
[6] Following this game, a movement swept across American colleges that increased the number of schools participating in athletics.
[7] Thus, in 1939 the NCAA delivered a statement which emphasized the amateur status of student-athletes and stated that financial awards would be needs based and independent of the individual's continued athletic participation.
[3] As of 2010, Bylaw 15.3.3.1. for Division I athletic programs differs little from the one-year rule invoked in 1973, as it reads, "If a student's athletics ability is considered in any degree in awarding financial aid, such aid shall neither be awarded for a period in excess of one academic year nor for a period less than one academic year.
Specifically, financial aid cannot be withdrawn or reduced during the award period based on athletic ability, performance, or contribution to success.
[11] Following the outcome, President Mark Emmert was quoted saying, "I am pleased that student-athletes will continue to benefit from the ability of institutions to offer athletics aid for more than one year, but it's clear that there are significant portions of the membership with legitimate concerns.
[17] Many Canadian student/athletes decide to go to NCAA Division 1 programs based on the illusion that they are receiving a better deal from these schools with regards to finances and athletics.
U Sports schools are also not bound by the tight NCAA rules surrounding contacts with athletes and in reality, means that U Sports coaches have the potential to develop their athletes to a higher standard, while also maintaining higher academics due to the above-mentioned differences in academic standards.
In the United Kingdom entrance scholarships based on sporting ability are not traditional, though contrary to popular belief they are not actually banned.
Many top British golfers are graduates of American universities including Colin Montgomerie, Luke Donald and Paul Casey.
However, these have been restricted in recent years by the New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council's (NZSSSC) anti-poaching rules.
The NZSSSC introduced a quota system in 2007 on the number of new-to-school and international students a school can field at national championships.
[18] Some regional secondary school sporting bodies have also enacted the NZSSSC's rules to first teams in local competitions.
The penalties for breaking either rule is loss of competition points and/or disqualification of the athletes, teams, coaches and/or managers involved.