The debate on Title IX continues. Many have called the passage of Title IX one of the largest anti-discrimination laws in the United States, while Title IX advocates continue to claim that it has leveled the playing field for college sports. Title IX, in a nutshell, is a law that requires colleges to have the same number of women’s athletic sports as they do men’s athletic sports. This limitation also applies to college scholarships. For male programs that award a large number of scholarships, such as soccer, there has to be an equal number of scholarships awarded to women. If the school does not award the female scholarships, they will lose the male athletic scholarship.
Opponents of Title IX see this as unfair. Statistically more men play sports than women. Likewise, prior to the passage of Title IX, there were many more men’s sports and men’s sports scholarships. Now, with equal scholarship rules, fringe men’s sports lack scholarships to attract athletes to schools. Profitable sports like basketball and soccer have not been affected by the change, but since schools must match scholarship for scholarship with women’s sports, they can’t afford to award scholarships to fringe male sports. Title IX supporters say those scholarships should always have gone to women to begin with, and if women were given the opportunity to practice college athletics, more women would play sports.
Title IX, right or wrong, is an excellent opportunity for women to attend college for free. Many top-tier universities have struggled with Title IX requirements to find enough women to play sports. Some have even gone so far as to announce that they need women for different teams, and they will get full scholarships to play on the sports team. Schools weren’t even looking for girls who could actually play the sport; they only needed warm bodies to complete the list.
If you’re a girl in high school looking for a way to pay for college, consider taking up a sport. While basketball, volleyball, soccer, and softball are popular, they are also top sports for women. There are limits to the number of scholarships each of the women’s sports can award each year. It is a principle of supply and demand. There are few scholarships for many girls in popular sports. However, there are plenty of scholarships in the fringe women’s sports. Sports like golf, tennis, archery, track and field, cross country and many others. Find a sport that interests you and then excel at it. The better you are, the more the best schools will look to fill their teams with winners.
The best way to excel is to be in top physical condition. Even in popular women’s sports, athletes have yet to take full advantage of sport-based training. The better physical condition you are, the better you will be in a sport. In addition, there are the additional benefits of having a better physical appearance. Training and adding healthy supplements like whey protein to a good diet will help build lean muscle, which is important for better muscle memory. It also helps you lose excess weight that will slow you down in any sport you try to compete in.
Scholarships for girls are unclaimed at this time. Learning a sport, training and excelling will bring opportunities to get an education.