SCHOLARSHIPS
Life
on scholarship The realities of being on scholarship sometimes differ from the common perception BY ANDREW STILWELL
O
n the surface, it seems simple: A studentathlete is deemed “good enough” athletically to be on scholarship, and their education is paid for, for up to four years, until that student-athlete “goes pro” in their respective sport or graduates. In reality, it’s much more complicated than that. “Each scholarship agreement is unique for each student-athlete,” said Sue Walsh, Associate Executive Director of Scholarship & Legacy Gifts for The Rams Club. “For example, while football players might be on full scholarships, for a sport like swimming, student-athletes might only be on a partial scholarship that just covers books, or just covers tuition, or just covers room and board. Each student-athlete has their own individual scholarship agreement that outlines what they are offered.” “That number includes student-athletes who are actively participating in one of our 28 sports,” Walsh said. “But it also includes student-athletes who might have suffered a career-ending injury and are medically ineligible. It also includes people that are still pursuing their degree but have finished their athletic eligibility. They typically have just a few classes left to finish up.” Currently, there are more than 500 student-athletes on some type
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BORN & BRED
of athletic scholarship at Carolina. Of the 28 varsity athletic programs at Carolina, 26 are at the maximum number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA. Also included are several athletes who have left the University in good standing before they graduated, often to pursue professional careers in their respective sports. They come back to finish their degree through the “Complete Carolina” program. Managed by the Department of Athletics, “Complete Carolina” provides financial support to returning student-athletes proportional to a student’s athletics aid during initial enrollment as a studentathlete, including tuition, fees, room, board and books. Since its inception in the 2015-16 academic year, and as of January 2018, more than a dozen Tar Heels have earned their degrees using this new program – with many more currently taking classes with degrees as their goal. “I think the Complete Carolina initiative is important,” Walsh explained. “We want to provide our student-athletes with an education whether it takes four years, five years, or whether they want to come back later in life when they have a family and really want to get that degree, which is wonderful. We certainly want everyone to put that Carolina diploma on the wall and be proud of it.” For many years, it was fairly straightforward to be “on scholarship.” But what does that really mean today? “Previously if you received tuition, fees, room, board and books, you
