<p>I was offered this explanation by a DI head coach that I know (not a football coach, but a coach at a major university), “I am given a pool of money each year to hand out in the form of student subsidies. I can give one student a full-ride or I can give 10 students a 1/10 ride. The university does not stipulate how I dole it out. I try to strategically spread it around so that I can put together the best team that I can. I may give a kid from way out of state who is a likely All-American almost a full ride to attract them, while in-state kids who are likely to end up backups may get a subsidy for books. Or, in other years, I may spread it around evenly. Each team and each department at the school operates the same way, you get a budget to award scholarships to students, and you dole it out as you see fit. The budgets vary from team to team (obviously the football and basketball teams get the most) and department to department.”</p>
<p>You won’t find transparency in a process like this, but full-rides occur under this sort of scheme. I have no idea how wide-spread it is. I do know a couple kids from D’s HS who have full-rides for theatre, and I am pretty sure that they received their scholarships (talent-based awards) under this sort of scheme.</p>