...able to all students. There are some nuances here of which I don't know all the details. For example, I know you can't create an academic merit scholarship for students who have a 3.0 gpa or higher and can throw a baseball greater than 90mph :-). Many states have lotteries that pay for tuition if your grades are good enough. I live in GA and my daughter qualifies for the Zell Miller academic scholarship which pays full tuition to a state university. She is a top swimmer and is being considered by many D-1 schools. However, UGA is at an advantage because if she can get a 50% athletic scholarship from them, it will over room/board/Fees and the Zell Miller will cover tuition. No out of pocket costs and UGA is one of the better swim schools in the nation. She is also considering the University of Kentucky. UK offers up to $10k in scholarship money for out of state students (google Kentucky Heritage Scholarship if you want more info) if you have good grades. She qualifies for this money, so if she can get a 66% athletic scholarship she could attend UK for no out of pocket costs for tuition/room/board/fees. She is also considering her dad's alma mater - Virginia Tech. Really no academic $ available to her, so to attend VT with no out of pocket costs for tuition/room/board/fees would take a 100% scholarship (very rare for swimmers). So that's how VT is at a disadvantage for equivalency sports when competing against many other D-1 schools.