Partial Division 1 Volleyball Scholarship?

Hi Coach!

I still check your site all the time for info and reassurance!  My  PSA is a junior now - and a defender - so let the fun begin right?

I have a question about some phrasing I have seen on some "needs" lists. As I thought D1 was a head count scholarship, I don't understand what a "partial" or "2/3" means.  

Here is some phrasing I copy and pasted: 

- partial for the libero (around 2/3rds of a full)

- Potential 2 for 2 – Libero

Thanks!

Glad to be a resource, and remember that Liberos are last, so your 'fun' will continue for another year or so….

NCAA Division I is a Head Count sport and that head count is 12.  The NCAA DI women's volleyball scholarship maximum is 12 full scholarships.  So, if a DI school has fully funded their volleyball program, then each athlete is on a Full Athletic Scholarship.

NCAA Division II is an Equivalency sport and the DII maximum for Volleyball is 8 scholarships.  The term Equivalency means that those 8 scholarships (or a lessor number depending on each school's decision to fund its volleyball program) can be divide amongst any number of players, as long as the total allocated scholarships are 'equivalent' to 8.

Back to your questions - If you are reading "partial" or "2/3" with regards to DI, then this school is not fully funded at the maximum of 12 scholarships, so they give partials to whatever number of players allows them to have 12 'heads' on a scholarship.

If you are reading this information from a DII/NAIA program, then they are relaying their typical scholarship amount for that position.  Please note that in DII/NAIA, the academic package plays a significant role in the scholarship package and is often times the largest portion of the scholarship package.

Within the Division I ranks, the newer trend is to have back row players walk on for a certain number of years and receive a scholarship for a certain number of years; hence the "potential 2 for 2" - two years of walk on for 2 years of scholarship. What greatly concerns me about these situations, is there is no written guarantee or promise of the athletic scholarship occurring - This becomes a problem when their is an injury to a 'more important' position (and since a walk on is already in her 3rd year, it is not like she would realistically transfer) or there is a head coaching change.

I commend you for doing the research to try and get an understanding of current college volleyball recruiting!

Coach