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Sabrina Erdmann

ENGL 1110

Prof. Miller

4 December 2015

Scholarships and Division Three

Out of the many different issues that plague athletics today, the one in particular that

draws my attention is the unfairness of athletic scholarships to division three student-athletes. In

college athletics there are three divisions of NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association)

athletics; although there is a fourth if you consider NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate

Athletics) as one, and out of all of these, only division three athletes are not allowed to receive

scholarships for playing a sport in college. Many people consider division three athletics to be

easier, unimportant, or somehow less work than the other divisions and then choose to cite this as

their main reasons to not allow scholarships to such athletes. However, when you practice every

day and have to change your entire schedule forcing you to have either late night or early

morning classes so that you can go to both practice and class it certainly doesnt seem like it.

What some people, NCAA rule makers, need to understand is that even though a player may not

be in division one, division two, or even NAIA the player in division three is still a collegiate

player and by no means is it simply a recreational activity not deserving of scholarships.

In the NCAA there are three divisions of athletics and this is true not only in the United

States, but also a similar system in Canada. In both countries the division three athletes are

disallowed to receive scholarships for their participation since the programs inception. In 1973

the NCAA was organized into three different divisions of athletes and from the beginning the
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third division has not been allowed to supply their athletes with scholarships (memberships).

However the third division is also the largest among the NCAA and has over 180,000 student-

athletes making it the most impactful on the organization as a whole (Herzberger). The NCAA

even has gone so far as to have a vote into the organization rules that a college can give

scholarships to certain sports athletes like football players having scholarships while also

prohibiting them to other sports athletes like tennis and soccer or vice versa. In the short history

of the NCAA there has been a drastic imbalance in the treatment of athletes in divisions one and

two versus the third division.

The NCAA has many times looked over the topic of division three athletics, and while it

may seem unbalanced for division three athletes the system has been put in place to offer the

most to each kind of athlete. The third division is set up so that the players are not playing for

money, but are focused on playing their sports for the love of the game. This allows the game to

be pure and free of the distractions that division one and two sports inevitably give off. Even if

unintentionally, as when money is involved, there will always be pressure not only on the

athletes, but also on all the coaches alongside their staff. When an athlete is allowed to work

without such distractions and succeed on their own drive, it allows a personal connection to the

game. Passions found in division one and two athletes are clouded by the many expectations put

on the players. While division three athletes are not allowed the privilege that is given to division

one and two athletes to receive scholarships they are given a whole different type of play that

builds the same amount of character alongside an entirely different and personally developing

play-type.

Now while all of those may seem like a valid reasons for the third division of the NCAA

to not have an allowance on scholarships they are in fact simply invalid or otherwise cowardly-
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made excuses. The NCAA even had this to say on division three athletes, They work just as

hard in practice and compete just as intensely; they strive to win, and through competition, they

learn lessons about discipline, leadership and teamwork (Herzberger). So why then if a student

athlete in division three works just as hard as the athletes in division one and two are penalized

by not being given the ability to have the same financial aid available to the athletes in division

one and two? Are we really saying that athletes in division three should not in any way be

rewarded for the enormous amounts of effort not to mention countless hours that they put into

their sports in any way other than the game is made more pure? It is ridiculous that two people

that play the same sport in two different colleges and give the same amount of effort could be

rewarded separately with thousands of dollars of support given to one who is in a higher division

whereas the athlete in division three has no reward other than a pat on the back which sometimes

is not even given by coaches who may not recognize how much their athletes give for so little in

return. There should be no excuses good enough to allow the NCAA to take advantage of their

student athletes like they are doing to their athletes in division three today.

With the many amounts of hardships that division three athletes are prone to due to their

involvement in their sports there ultimately should be some incentive that even if it is not

mandatorily given to each student athlete should be available to the college should they wish to

grant an athlete with such provisions. The NCAA after over 40 years over depriving the third

division of the ability of scholarship grants should at the very least put the thought to a vote

before its participant colleges. Which the NCAA not only has the ability to do, but it has done so

with other situations such as this having more than 10 amendments brought before its

participating colleges down the last four decades. The NCAAs excuses for the non-allowance of

scholarships to third division athletes is both unacceptable and unworthy of an organization as

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widely known and respected as the NCAA. This problem is not simply one that can be changed

overnight, but the fact that it affects so many people merits that it should at least be

acknowledged and discussed by the NCAA and its correspondents to see what solutions can be

made that will help the students athletes of division three who are too often dismissed in the

scholarship game of the collegiate athletics.

Works Cited

"Divisional Differences and the History of Multidivision Classification."NCAA.org. NCAA, 20

Nov. 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

Herzberger, Sharon. "The Division III Experience." NCAA.org. N.p., 28 Dec. 2013. Web. 02

Dec. 2015.
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Rubenstone, Sally. "Athletic Scholarship for Div. 3 Athlete? - Ask The Dean."Ask The Dean.

N.p., 13 Aug. 2008. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.