Football Athletic Scholarships: FBS, FCS, D2, and D3 — What Families Need to Know
·7 min read·Peter Kildegaard
The 85-scholarship number for D1 FBS football is one of the most famous figures in college sports. What most football families don't know is that it tells an incomplete story — and for most athletes, it's not even the relevant number. FBS programs offer 85 full scholarships. FCS programs offer 63 equivalencies spread across rosters of 90 or more players. D2 programs offer 36 equivalencies. D3 offers nothing in athletic aid. The level your athlete is actually targeting shapes what financial support looks like entirely, and the families who confuse FBS scholarship math with FCS or D2 recruiting reality end up with badly calibrated expectations.
Football also has the most complex scholarship structure of any college sport. Understanding it starts with two concepts: headcount versus equivalency, and what those labels mean for how coaches distribute money.
Football scholarship structure: headcount vs. equivalency
FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) — Head count.
FBS is the only level in college sports that uses headcount scholarships for a roster of this size. Each of the 85 scholarships must be a full scholarship — tuition, room, board, fees, and a cost-of-attendance stipend. The coach cannot split an FBS scholarship into two partial awards. This creates the full-ride culture FBS is known for: if a Power Four or Group of Five program offers your athlete a scholarship, it covers everything. The trade-off is that 85 scholarships for an 85-man scholarship limit means very little margin — every offered scholarship has real cost, which is why FBS programs don't offer casually.
FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) — Equivalency.
FCS programs receive 63 scholarship equivalencies. Most FCS rosters carry 90–105 players. That math means the majority of FCS players are either on partial scholarships or on no scholarship at all. A 63-equivalency pool spread across 95 players averages out to about 66% of a full scholarship — but coaches don't distribute it evenly. Starters and key contributors typically receive more; depth players and walk-ons receive less or nothing. An FCS offer of "scholarship money" needs to be converted to an actual dollar amount before a family knows what they're dealing with.
Division II — Equivalency.
D2 football programs have 36 scholarship equivalencies per program. With roster sizes similar to FCS (80–95 players), the average coverage is thinner than FCS — roughly 38–45% of a full scholarship per scholarship player, before accounting for the athletes receiving nothing. D2 scholarships are often partial and sometimes small, but D2 schools frequently stack athletic aid with academic merit aid, which can build a more substantial total package than the athletic portion alone suggests.
Division III — No athletic scholarships.
D3 football programs cannot offer any form of athletic scholarship. Financial aid is entirely merit-based and need-based. D3 coaches can advocate in the admissions process and can sometimes influence institutional aid outcomes for recruits they're actively pursuing, but there is no athletic money. Families targeting D3 programs need to run the net price calculator on each school before assuming the absence of athletic aid makes D3 unaffordable — at selective private D3 schools, need-based and merit packages can be substantial.
We write guides like this every week
Recruiting timelines, scholarship breakdowns, and step-by-step guidance — delivered free to your inbox.
FBS vs. FCS vs. D2 vs. D3: scholarship counts and what they mean
Level
Scholarships
Type
Typical roster size
FBS (D1)
85
Head count (full rides only)
~85 scholarship players
FCS (D1)
63
Equivalency
90–105 total players
D2
36
Equivalency
80–95 total players
D3
0
None
60–90 total players
NAIA
24
Equivalency
50–80 total players
A detail worth understanding about FCS: the 63-equivalency number is a scholarship cap, not a roster cap. FCS programs actively use walk-ons to build depth. The recruiting pitch at FCS is often straightforward — "we can offer you partial scholarship money and a chance to play D1 football" — and for many athletes, that's a compelling combination. The level of play at the top end of FCS (programs like North Dakota State, James Madison, South Dakota State) is genuinely strong, and NFL draft pipelines run through the FCS as much as the Group of Five.
Walk-on opportunities and preferred walk-ons
Walk-ons exist at every level of college football, but they function differently depending on the division.
Preferred walk-ons at FBS are athletes a coaching staff specifically recruits to join the program without scholarship money — at least initially. FBS programs use preferred walk-on offers to extend their roster depth beyond the 85-scholarship limit. A preferred walk-on receives a formal invitation to join the program, is expected to participate in spring and fall camp, and competes for playing time on the same basis as scholarship athletes. Walk-on scholarships — also called "earning a scholarship" — happen when the coaching staff decides to add a walk-on to the scholarship roster, usually after they've demonstrated their value in practice and competition. This is a real pathway; it's also not a reliable plan.
At FCS and D2, walk-on opportunities are common but less formally structured. Coaches have more scholarship flexibility than at FBS (they can offer smaller partial awards), so the line between a partial-scholarship recruit and a walk-on recruit is blurrier. An athlete with interest from an FCS program should always ask directly: "Is there scholarship money available, and if not now, is there a realistic path to scholarship consideration?"
At D3, walk-ons and scholarship athletes are the same thing — there is no scholarship. Every athlete on the roster is technically a walk-on in the financial sense.
What football scholarship offers actually look like in practice
At FBS, an offer means a full ride. That's not complicated. What's worth understanding is that FBS offers come at very different stages of the process depending on the program's tier. Power Four programs frequently offer elite prospects in their sophomore year. Group of Five programs tend to offer later, often after a strong junior year. For families targeting FBS but watching sophomore recruiting offers go to athletes in their son's position group, the timeline is confusing — it looks like the process is passing them by, when in reality Group of Five and FCS interest often follows later in the cycle.
At FCS, the conversation is always about percentages. A coach who says "we're interested in offering you scholarship money" has told you nothing actionable. The follow-up question is: "What percentage of a full scholarship are you discussing, and what does that translate to in dollars at your school?" A 50% scholarship at a school with a $50,000 cost of attendance is $25,000 per year. A 25% scholarship at the same school is $12,500. Both are "scholarship offers." The numbers are not comparable without the percentage and the baseline cost.
At D2, equivalency scholarships are often smaller in absolute dollar terms, but D2 schools regularly allow athletic and academic aid to stack. A D2 program might offer 25% athletic aid plus a merit scholarship worth another 20% — producing a total 45% discount that's competitive with many FCS partial offers and more affordable in absolute terms if the school costs less to begin with.
The bottom line
For most football families, the scholarship reality at the level their athlete is targeting looks nothing like the FBS full-ride model. FCS programs offer real money, but it's partial and split across large rosters. D2 programs offer less per player in athletic aid, but academic and merit aid stacking can build a meaningful total package. D3 programs offer zero athletic money, but financial aid packages based on academic credentials and need can still produce affordable outcomes.
The most useful thing a football family can do early in the process is calculate what their family can actually afford to pay per year before evaluating any offers. The college athletic scholarships overview explains the full head count vs. equivalency framework and how to run the net price comparison. Once you understand the financial picture at each level, the football college recruiting guide walks through the timeline, evaluation process, and what coaches at each level are actually looking for. If you're at the stage of sorting out which division your athlete belongs in, D1 vs. D2 vs. D3 differences covers the full picture — scholarships, academic rules, recruiting timelines, and the athlete experience at each level.
