One of the biggest misconceptions among players and parents is that if they get a college commitment, it means they’ll receive a “full-ride” scholarship. It also means that if you see a commitment announcement on social media, it does not mean that player just got a $200,000 scholarship. I’ve yet to see a tweet that reads “I’m proud to announce I’ve accepted a 10% scholarship to play D1 hockey at … Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way”!

First things first, Division III programs don’t offer athletic scholarships. Only financial aid and academic scholarships are available. The same is true for Ivy League Division I programs (Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale) and a few schools where hockey is the only D1 sport (i.e, RIT and Union). Based on your situation, these schools may end up being very affordable, but the aid won’t come in the form of an athletic scholarship. 

Second, scholarships are capped even at programs that have athletic scholarships. Most schools are allowed a maximum of 18 full scholarships per year but some conferences cap scholarships as low as 12 per team.

The tricky part is that college hockey teams don’t just carry 18 players. For example, The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers has 28 players on their 2017-2018 roster. Wisconsin has the same. North Dakota has 25.  

Every college program does it differently, but generally, the available 18 scholarships are sliced and diced to recruit more than 18 players. On one extreme, a school could offer 18 full scholarships and have 10 players that are full-pay walk-ons.  At the other end of the spectrum, a school could keep everyone on a level playing field and offer a 64% scholarship to 28 players. In reality, most programs offer a chunk of full scholarships (maybe 10 or 11) then divide up the remaining 7 or 8 among their other recruits. 

A spread of 11 full scholarships, 6 at 75% (equal to 4.5 full), 4 at 50% (equal to 2 full), 2 at 25% (bringing us to 18 total), and 2-5 walk-ons would be pretty typical. Other schools set their “max” scholarship at 85% or 90%, even for their best players. This may allow the program offer a “max” 85% scholarship to 15 players while still leaving 5+ scholarships to divide among other recruits.

The bottom line is that almost every program has walk-ons and lower-scholarship players. For that reason, don’t lose your mind if you see a commitment announcement on social media...they may just be walking on. Finally, don’t cash out your college-savings account to buy a new boat quite yet, even if your son/daughter is looking like a sure-fire Division I player.  

Brian Bartlett is an NHLPA Certified Agent and attorney. He is Vice-President of Sports Consulting Group, Inc. which, along with his father Steve and brother Scott, has been helping elite players navigate the path to the NHL for 35 years. Current NHL clients include Thomas Vanek, J.T. Miller, Justin Faulk, Alex Tuch, Will Butcher, Clayton Keller and more.