Absolutely.

Colleges and athletic departments are very motivated to attract good athletes to their programs. Athletic departments are well-funded because winning teams boost attendance, maintain alumni support and lift student morale. In fact, a USA Today study ("Athletic spending grows as academic funds dry up") shows that the average college's athletic budget rose by 25% between 1995 and 2001, while university spending increased only 10%. While not everyone on campus is happy about the favoritism towards the athletic budget, it's good news for student-athletes.

How many athletic scholarships are there?

There is even more good news for those seeking athletic scholarships: Athletic departments at NCAA colleges spend in excess of $4 billion per year on their athletic programs. And roughly one quarter of their budget($1 billion) is awarded annually as scholarships to student-athletes!

Over 126,000 student-athletes receive athletic scholarships each year from NCAA Division I and II schools alone. (Division III schools aren't allowed to offer athletic scholarships, but unofficially compensate by offering other forms of non-athletic financial aid to academically and financially qualifying student-athletes they want to recruit.)

How many student-athletes are competing for these scholarships?

NCAA's 1,265 member colleges and universities report that they have more than 355,000 student-athletes playing each year. Approximately 36% of these NCAA student-athletes receive a share of the $1 billion earmarked for athletic scholarships.

NAIA's 299 colleges and universities report that they have over 46,000 student-athletes playing each year. Though NAIA doesn't track scholarship or financial aid statistics, they do report that over 90% of NAIA institutions offer athletic scholarships.

What are the odds of playing at the Collegiate level?

Only outstanding student-athletes are likely to make the jump from high school to collegiate play. NCAA recently published approximate statistics for several sports, comparing the number of graduating High School athletes to incoming College Freshman athletes. They show that the number of NCAA Freshman roster positions in the surveyed sports runs between 3% and 13% of graduating High School Senior student-athletes. (Note: these figures don't include the NAIA colleges or the Junior Colleges.)

Student-Athletes	Men’s Basketball	Women’s Basketball	Football	Baseball	Men’s Ice Hockey	Men’s Soccer
High School Student-Athletes	549,500	456,900	983,600	455,300	29,900	321,400
High School Senior Student-Athletes	157,000	130,500	281,000	130,100	8,500	91,800
NCAA Student-Athletes (all divisions)	15,700	14,400	56,500	25,700	3,700	18,200
NCAA Freshman Roster Positions (all divisions)	4,500	4,100	16,200	7,300	1,100	5,200
NCAA Senior Student-Athletes (all divisions)	3,500	3,200	12,600	5,700	800	4,100
Percent High School to NCAA (all divisions)	2.9%	3.1%	5.8%	5.6%	12.9%	5.7%

What's this mean to you?

If you're a high school student-athlete who wants to play at the college level, this means you need to get noticed by the college athletic recruiters,you need to stand out, and you need to sell yourself effectively. That's what the Recruit-Me System helps you do. Just waiting to get noticed or scouted is not likely to pay off.