Water Polo Scholarships at NCAA Division 1 and 2 programs are allowed to offer no more than 4.5 scholarships per team, while Ivy League institutions and Division 3 schools only offer merit-based scholarships to student-athletes who meet certain academic standards. The reality of men’s college water polo is that not all programs are fully funded, which means some have fewer than 4.5 scholarships to offer and others have no scholarships to offer at all.

Programs that do offer scholarships have to make the hard decision of how to divide the scholarship budget across the entire roster. College coaches are looking to award financial aid to talented athletes who will help push the team to the next level and, in many cases, these athletes are current roster holders, not incoming freshmen. This section breaks down the scholarship opportunities at each division level, shares tips for how to get a water polo scholarship, explains the NCAA eligibility requirements and ranks the top schools for men’s water polo scholarships.

Understanding scholarship offers and negotiating for the best offer

Water polo is not a heavily funded NCAA sponsored sport, which means scholarship budgets are small, and competition is high. Student-athletes who are not awarded a full-ride or partial scholarship can still earn a spot on the team as a preferred walk-on, recruited walk-on or unrecruited walk-on. Below we briefly describe each of these four different types of offers.

• Full-ride scholarship offer: Water polo is an “equivalency sport,” which means college coaches are given a pool of scholarship money to divide up amongst the team. Because water polo programs are only allotted 4.5 full-scholarship equivalents, college coaches are more likely to award partial scholarships to multiple athletes, rather than a full-ride scholarship to few athletes.
• Partial scholarship offer: Partial scholarships vary in amount and can be used to cover the cost of tuition, books, room and board and other fees. Student-athletes who receive an academic scholarship, grant and/or other forms of financial aid in addition to a partial athletic scholarship can combine their funding to cover the cost of college.
• Recruited walk-on (preferred): College coaches who cannot offer athletic scholarships to every athlete can still offer recruits a spot on the roster as a preferred walk-on. This offer guarantees the athlete a spot on the roster but does not provide any financial funding.
• Unrecruited walk-on: Student-athletes who are not offered a spot on the roster can still make the team as a recruited walk-on if the program hosts walk-on tryouts. Athletes must attend and impress the coach during walk-on tryouts in order to make the team.

Best colleges with men’s water polo scholarships

Scholarship opportunities are available at every NCAA institution. Student-athletes competing at Division 1 and 2 programs are eligible for full or partial athletic scholarships, while student-athletes at Ivy League and Division 3 schools, who meet certain academic standards, are eligible for merit-based scholarships.

NCSA has created a Power Rankings report to help student-athletes and their families identify the best colleges with men’s water polo scholarships. This report analyzes a variety of factors, including academics, size, location and cost, to rank college water polo programs. Below is a list of the top 10 NCAA men’s college water polo programs:

1. Stanford University
2. Princeton University
3. Harvard University
4. University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA)
5. University of California
6. Brown University
7. University of Southern California
8. University of California – Irvine
9. University of California – San Diego
10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)