An athletic scholarship could be your ticket to a free college education and a future career in sports. However, finding one could be tougher than you think, unless you are extraordinarily gifted in a sport that is highly competitive and in-demand. Academically, you must be able to show that you also have the intellectual aptitude that would make you worthy of a scholarship. There are three major organizations that offer scholarship opportunities for student athletes. The most illustrious of these is NCAA, which has 1,000 member colleges and universities under its umbrella. These schools have the biggest and most competitive athletic programs in the U.S., and they attract the most talented athletes in the country. Another collegiate organization that also extends some athletic scholarships albeit much fewer is NAIA. To date, NAIA has only about 300 member colleges and their athletic programs are not as well-funded as those in universities and colleges under NCAA. Nevertheless, if you are a student athlete who is looking for ways to get to college you should always keep your options open even to the possibility of attending a less renowned college. Perhaps you consider your skill level in your chosen sport below par with the best athletes in your category then you have a much better chance of landing a scholarship with a NAIA school than with NCAA. You could also try with NJCAA, but they offer athletic scholarships for two-year courses. If your scholarship applications with NCAA and NAIA have been turned down, an NJCAA scholarship should be your next logical target. A scholarship with any NJCAA college can give you an excellent preparation should you decide to continue with another college for a four-year course. Now the next question is: what does an athletic scholarship cover? Just like most scholarships, a student athlete can either be awarded with a full scholarship that would defray the costs of tuition, books and even room and board or a partial scholarship that will pay only for some of the expenses. The rest would have to be shouldered by the student. Even with a partial scholarship, a student athlete may find it impossible to support himself to school. Getting a payday loan may be necessary so you can make ends meet and supplement the partial scholarship that you’ve been awarded with.