Get Paid to Go to School: If Only it Were That Easy

Millions of kids growing up around the U.S. dream of becoming college athletes. For most, this is merely a dream. I was fortunate enough to be able to live out this dream. Two of my favorite things in the world are sports and numbers so I found some statistics about college athletics provided by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

• Between 7 & 8 million high school students participate in sports every year
• Of those students, roughly 460,000 (~6%) go onto play in the NCAA (D1, D2 & D3)
• 153,000 NCAA athletes receive some kind of athletic scholarship (Division 3 schools cannot give athletic scholarships)
• $2.7 billion worth of scholarships are given every year by schools in the NCAA ($17,600 per scholarship athlete)

In addition to athletes getting all or part of their university costs paid for, athletes are now able to make money on their name, image and likeness (NIL). Coming into the landscape in 2021, athletes with a high social media presence have capitalized on their brand. The industry is estimated to be over $1 billion annually. As of March 2024, here are a few of the top earners.

• Bronny James, USC basketball: $4.9 million
• Shedeur Sanders, Colorado football: $4.7 million
• Livvy Dunne, LSU gymnastics: $3.6 million
• Caitlyn Clark, Iowa basketball: $3.1 million
• Arch Manning, Texas football: $2.8 million