College Scholarships For Women Explained

Are You Looking For College Scholarships For Women?

College scholarships for women in sports are available in all USA colleges that offer college sports scholarships for men.

In fact, it's the law:

Title IX of the amendment reads as follows:

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal assistance."

This has had a profound impact on education and college scholarships for women – in 1972, fewer than 10% of all law doctorates and medical degrees were issued to women – now, it's nearly 45% in both professions. General advanced degrees have gone from 3% issued to women to 48%.

One of the touchstones for getting these degrees, and this equality, comes not from opening doors in the classroom, but from opening doors in the locker room.

A Supreme Court ruling on Title IX in 1973 mandated that the amount of money issued in scholarships be made equal between women's sports and men's sports in any institution getting Federal funding; as a result, more than ten million dollars worth of college scholarships for women in sports are being issued every year, and the number is on the rise.

This change in the social dynamic of college athletics is not without its detractors – in order to make sure that the scholarship numbers handed out are equal, a lot of campuses have severely cut back on scholarships for men's sports, including cutting back storied programs, like Men's college baseball, the University of Miami competitive diving program that brought out Greg Louganis, and the UCLA men's gymnastics teams.

While some claim (and a suit has been raised) that these constitute discrimination against men, the reality is that most of these scholarships were eliminated because they didn't generate revenue, the way that college football and basketball do.

What this does mean is that any woman thinking of going to college and who plays a sport competitively, has excellent odds of getting a college scholarships for women focused sports; much better odds than if she were male.

Because the rules indicate that the number of scholarships awarded for athletics should be proportional to the gender balance of the overall student body, many universities will even start up new women's sporting programs to award these college scholarships for women, just to become Title IX compliant.

To get in on this, you'll still need to have grades good enough to get into college; unlike men's football and basketball programs (which are, in theory, revenue producing sports), there isn't a lot of slack cut for female athletes who can't cut it in the classroom as well as on the lacrosse field or volleyball court, etc.

This is all well and good – colleges should be about nurturing the student-athlete, not be preparatory mills and a farm system for professional sports leagues.

So, still focus on your grades as well as your jump shot. Because of the rising number of admissions for women in schools, there is more competition to get into college in the first place – if your grades are good enough, being an athlete eligible for scholarships for women can be a good tie breaker.

Once you're in college, the same advice applies to female athletes as it does to male: Focus on the academics, it's why you're there. While the prospects for turning pro for women have risen dramatically (over a 3,000% increase over the last 10 years – you read that right – a 3,000% increase!), the odds are you're not going to get a contract for Major League Soccer or the WNBA.

Use the college scholarships for women that are available to you to fund a good education and make the most of the opportunity presented to you.

When you're looking at schools with college scholarships for women in athletics, don't overlook the women's only schools. While some women's schools don't accept Federal funding, some do…and they all have a need to field competitive teams. Going to a women's only school does offer a few alternatives and change-ups to going to a coed school, but the academics are first rate.

Sports that are likeliest to get you womens college sports scholarships are team sports; volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball and lacrosse are the big women's sports in the NCAA right now.

Individual sports (like diving and gymnastics) will have fewer college programs available, but there will be less competition to get into them. Obscure sports, such as fencing, may have little to no competition for the scholarship slots available.

Regardless of the sport you play, or the sport your daughter plays, college scholarships for women in athletics represent a window of opportunity that can be exploited. Title IX college scholarships for women were the driving force behind the US women's soccer team that won the World Cup in 1999, and the Women's National Basketball Association has drafted college athletes for years.

However, the real beneficiaries of college sports scholarships for women are society as a whole – more women, empowered by Title IX, have completed college degrees without crippling loads of debt, and moved on to the business world, or graduate programs, where they've excelled and made a difference in the world.

Perhaps you, or your daughter, can be one of the women shaping our future, with college scholarships for women paid for doing a sport that's loved.

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