In the past, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has had various athletic scholarship limits depending on which sport and which Division that team plays in. Division I sports have had an advantage with scholarships as they have always been allowed to have more for their players. Some conferences have had their own rules as well; for example, the Ivy League conference has not permitted the use of athletic scholarships. For some sports, the NCAA has only allowed full scholarships and has put limits on how many the schools can offer. These sports are known as headcount sports and they form very competitive high school athletes with aspirations to go to college free of cost. Division I sports are the only ones that qualify as a headcount sport and for men they are only Basketball and Football while for women they are Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, and Gymnastics. On the other hand Equivalency sports include the NCAA Division II. For these sports, while there is still a limit imposed, schools can break up scholarships. For example, if you have 10 scholarships and 20 athletes, you can offer each athlete a half scholarship. Equivalency sports include both Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Fencing, Swimming, Golf, Lacrosse, Cross Country, Track & Field and other sports as well.
Now, the NCAA is trying to end scholarship limits and replace them with roster limits. They are doing so to avoid lawsuits that claim that the NCAA violated the Antitrust law; different players paying more or less for their education. By introducing roster limits, getting recruited will be more challenging yet but more rewarding. “It’s definitely exciting knowing there is a possibility to earn more money by the time I go to college,” Pace Senior and Division I commit Miles Mador. Depending on how the school spends their money, all athletes would have the opportunity to go to college without paying a penny. “My biggest excitement is [potentially] more walk-on type players getting the money they deserve for what they do for the team, not on game day,” said Pace Alumni and former Notre Dame football and Lacrosse player, Sam Assaf. “The implementation of this would definitely benefit a lot of the guys I play with,” Mador said. If this is passed, there will be an increase in scholarships by roughly 790 across all Division I sports. This will also increase the amount of disproportionate scholarship per school athletic scholarships as it puts pressure on each institution to allow for unlimited scholarships. “I worry about the divide it will cause between schools that can and can not afford to use all [their] scholarships, [and] the culture of scout teams, which I think is generally understated, amongst teams that cut all walk-ons and only keep scholarships” Assaf said. It is speculated that previous Alabama football head coach, Nick Saban, retired due to the ability for schools to win players over based on how much they are offering that player. It is evident that if this is put into place there will be more capability for schools to recruit athletes through more money. The removal of headcount sports will also be implemented easing the requirement for only full scholarships. The only sport that wouldn’t qualify for a rise in scholarships would be Women’s basketball.
| Sport* | Current | New | Increase |
| Tumbling (W) | 14 | 55 | 41 |
| Baseball (M) | 11.7 | 34 | 22.3 |
| Basketball (M) | 13 | 15 | 2 |
| Basketball (W) | athlete | 15 | 0 |
| Beach volleyball (W) | 6 | 19 | 13 |
| Cross country (M) | 5 | 17 | 12 |
| Cross country (W) | 6 | 17 | 11 |
| Field hockey (W) | 12 | 27 | 15 |
| Football (M) | 85 | 105 | 20 |
| Golf (M) | 4.5 | 9 | 4.5 |
| Golf (W) | 6 | 9 | 3 |
| Gymnastics (M) | 6.3 | 20 | 13.7 |
| Gymnastics (W) | 12 | 20 | 8 |
| Ice hockey (M) | 18 | 26 | 8 |
| Ice hockey (W) | 18 | 26 | 8 |
| Track (M) | 12.6 | 45 | 35.4 |
| Track (W) | 18 | 45 | 27 |
| Lacrosse (M) | 12.6 | 48 | 35.4 |
| Lacrosse (W) | 12 | 38 | 26 |
| Rowing (W) | 20 | 68 | 48 |
| Soccer (M) | 9.9 | 28 | 18.1 |
| Soccer (W) | 14 | 28 | 14 |
| Softball (W) | 12 | 25 | 13 |
| Stunt (M/W) | 14 | 65 | 51 |
| Swim (M) | 9.9 | 30 | 20.1 |
| Swim (W) | 14 | 30 | 16 |
| Tennis (M) | 4.5 | 10 | 5.5 |
| Tennis (W) | 8 | 10 | 2 |
| Triathlon (W) | 6.5 | 14 | 7.5 |
| Volleyball (M) | 4.5 | 18 | 13.5 |
| Volleyball (W) | 12 | 18 | 6 |
| Water polo (M) | 4.5 | 24 | 19.5 |
| Water polo (W) | 8 | 24 | 16 |
| Wrestling (M) | 9.9 | 30 | 20.1 |
| Wrestling (W) | 10 | 30 | 20 |