Football is one of the most recognizable and dominant sports on the college scene, with TV appearances, huge stadiums and passionate fans. However, behind all the glamor of college football is the down-and-dirty hard work required to get to the spotlight.  There are approximately 896 football programs across the U.S., and the majority of them offer football scholarships to talented student-athletes. D1 FBS teams can give full-ride scholarships to 85 athletes on their roster. There are 133 Division 1 FCS football teams and 128 FBS football teams.

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D2 schools can give full athletic scholarships. However, unlike at the D1-FBS level, full-ride athletic scholarships are not guaranteed. Instead, coaches can divide up their scholarship money among athletes however they choose. There are 162 Division 2 football programs and 17 conferences. 

 

Division 3 is the largest of the NCAA division levels, with 450 member institutions. The level of competition for NCAA Division 3 football teams is generally lower than Division 1, Division 2 and NAIA schools. While NCAA Division 3 football teams don’t offer athletic scholarships, they have plenty of other scholarship opportunities students can take advantage of. In fact, most student-athletes at Division 3 schools benefit from some form of financial aid.

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There are 95 NAIA football schools across the country. There are over 250 NAIA schools in total. NAIA football colleges are allowed to manage their own recruiting process—no timelines or calendars to memorize. Coaches at NAIA football schools can recruit at any time, and the window of opportunity is often open longer than at the other division levels. For football, all NAIA teams play in the same division. NAIA football programs can offer up to 24 scholarships per team. The coaches can divide the scholarships as partial scholarships in order to get more high-quality players on the team. Athletes can receive full-ride scholarships, but they are somewhat rare, reserved for the players who are projected to make the most impact on the team and for athletes who are in unique positions. 

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Oftentimes, football players opt to compete on a junior college football programs (also referred to as JUCO football teams) after their senior year in high school. In fact, many junior colleges are feeder programs for powerhouse D1 college football teams. For many athletes, junior college gives them an opportunity to improve their GPA and knock out some general education requirements. It also gives athletes some time to develop physically and get experience competing against older, more challenging football players. There are 65 JUCO football teams in the United States.