Facts & Statistics

Student-Athlete Facts & Statistics

NCAA – National Collegiate Athletic Association

NJCAA – National Junior College Athletic Association

NAIA – National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

Approximately 570,000 student-athletes participate in intercollegiate athletics across the three separate governing associations.
Athletic scholarships can be provided in full or divided partially between student-athletes, dependent on the sport and governing association.

Head-count sports – Each student who receives financial aid is provided with the actual cost of attendance as determined by the institution.

Equivalency sports – Scholarships can be divided partially, and allocated in various forms such as tuition, books, housing costs, or meals.

On average, student-athletes that participate in intercollegiate athletics graduate at a higher rate than the general student population.

The NCAA was established in 1906.
24 men’s and women’s sports are played across the 3 divisions of the NCAA.
More than 460,000 student-athletes participate in NCAA sports each year.
1,121 colleges and universities nationwide, with 19,000 teams participating in NCAA intercollegiate competition.
54,000 student-athletes advance to NCAA championships annually, competing at 89 national championships.

42 men’s sports national championships

44 women’s sports national championships

National championships for fencing, rifle, and skiing are co-ed.

Division I and II provide $2.7 billion in athletic scholarships annually, awarded to more than 150,000 student-athletes.
Only 6% of American high school athletes compete in NCAA intercollegiate athletics, with approximately 2% receiving an athletic scholarship.
Less than 2% of NCAA athletes will continue on to play sports professionally.
On average, the number of people that attend US college sporting events is 28.33 million each year.

173,500 student-athletes, 346 universities across America.
53% of Division I student-athletes receive some portion of athletic financial aid.
81% success rate for Division I student-athlete graduation.

109,100 student-athletes, 300 universities across America.
56% of Division II student-athletes receive some portion of athletic financial aid.
71% success rate for Division II student-athlete graduation.

183,500 student-athletes, 450 universities across America.
75% of Division III student-athletes receive some form of academic grant or need-based scholarship – no financial aid allocated for athletics.
87% success rate for Division III student-athlete graduation.

The NJCAA was established in 1938.
15 men’s sports and 13 women’s sports are played in the NJCAA.
There is a 3 division system, similar to that of the NCAA.
There are approximately 45,300 student-athletes that compete in the NJCAA each year.
The NJCAA has 24 different regions, with over 50 national championships hosted annually.

There are approximately 5,300 different colleges and universities within the American tertiary education system.
On average, that is 106 colleges and universities in each of the 50 states of America.
California has the most colleges and universities with 399, followed by New York with 307, and Pennsylvania with 260.
The terms college and university are often used interchangeably, however the difference is defined by the size of the school and the degree programs offered.
In the 2015-16 school year a total of 20.2 million students are expected to attend American colleges and universities.
There will be 11.5 million female students, compared to 8.7 million male students.
Students will be more likely to attend college on a full time basis, with 12.6 million full time students and 7.6 million part time students.
Approximately 7.0 million students will attend 2-year institutions compared to the 13.2 million students that will attend 4-year institutions.
It is expected that 17.3 million students will enrol in undergraduate programs and 3.0 million students will enrol in post-graduate programs.
During the 2015-16 school year, US colleges and universities are expected to award:

– 952,000 associate’s degrees

– 8 million bachelor’s degrees

– 802,000 master’s degrees

– 179,000 doctor’s degrees

Recently, the average annual price for undergraduate tuition, fees, and board was $15,640 at public institutions and $40,614 at private institutions.

There are approximately 975,000 international students attending US colleges nationwide.
During the 2014-15 school year, university attendance by international students increased by 10%.
China contributed the highest number of people to US colleges with 304,000 international students.
Followed by India with 133,000 international students, and South Korea with 64,000.
Neighbouring countries provided 44,000 international students; Canada with 27,000 and Mexico with 17,000.
Approximately 4,511 Australian students attended university in America during the 2014-15 school year.
The top US institutions hosting international students included:

– New York University – 13,178 international students

– University of Southern California – 12,334 international students

– Columbia University – 11,510 international students

– Arizona State University – 11,330 international students

– Michigan State University – 8,146 international students

– University of Washington – 8,035 international students

The Department of Commerce reports that international students contributed nearly $31 billion to the U.S. economy in the 2014-15 school year.
Business Management and Engineering are the most popular degrees with 197,000 international students each.
Followed by Maths and Computer Science with 113,000 international students completing these degrees.
Communications, Education, and Humanities degrees attract approximately 18,000-20,000 international students per year.
International students account for over 4% of the total U.S. graduate and undergraduate enrolment annually.
Amongst the top 200 US colleges that host international students, the graduation rate for international students is just over 70%.