NCAA Division II Volleyball Scholarship Questions

Hi, my name is T and I need your help

Can you tell me how this works? Are all teams under the guidelines of the NCAA? Does every Division 2 team have to abide by the same rules?  How many Athletic Scholarships does a Division 2 program get for Women’s Volleyball and where does that money come from? How are those scholarships allowed to be awarded? Half, partial or Full? Who has the control over those scholarships and how they are awarded?  If you could explain this process to me it would really be helpful. I need to understand so I know if they are providing me with the truth or just leading me on? 

Your response would be very helpful.

T.M.

NCAA Division II has a different terminology for volleyball scholarships, than Division I.  Most notably is that DII is an Equivalency Sport, as opposed to being a DI Head Count Sport; quick summary is packaging partial scholarships versus a full athletic scholarship!  To make the DII recruiting process a bit more confusing, is that DII has a different set of contact rules than DI.  VolleyFamilies tend to get their 'recruiting education' via the media, which is focused on the DI sports!

And now, without further delay…… your answers:

- Yes, every member of NCAA Division II must follow the same rules, as written/published in the NCAA compliance manual.

- Please note, that DI and DII have different rules in many cases (eligibility, contact, etc), while some rules are the same (continuing eligibility, countable hours of volleyball, etc).

-  NCAA DII says that a program can be funded up to 8 athletic scholarships, but each conference and/or school makes its own determination as to what level the volleyball program(s) will be funded.  A large number of DII schools/conferences do not fund their volleyball programs at 8 scholarships.

-  Athletic Scholarships come from the university/college.

-  In DII, the majority of Athletic Scholarships are in partial scholarships.  "Partial" can be anything up to a  Full (so a 1/8 scholarship and a 7/8 scholarship would both be considered a partial athletic scholarship).

-  The Head Coach will make the determination of how much athletic scholarship money to award each individual player, and has control over the renewal/reduction/increase of said athletic scholarships.

-  College coaches have to look at prioritizing their recruits/players because they have limited athletic scholarship funds (when compared to DI).  This means some players will be on more or less athletic scholarship money than other players.

- The largest component of a DII scholarship comes from outside athletics; academic, merit and need based scholarship avenues.  And, the college coach will have zero influence over these non-athletic scholarships.

-  All of the above, results in DII Volleyball players being awarded scholarship packages. These packages are usually compiled and presented to families by the volleyball coach, but the coach only has control over the athletic amount!

Hope the above information was helpful!

The Coach