OTTAWA (CIS) - Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced on Monday the results of its data collection on athletic scholarships provided by member universities during the course of the 2013-14 academic year.
 
The data reveals that in ’13-14 member universities together provided $15,981,189 in athletic scholarship money to CIS student-athletes, an increase of 9.5 percent from the previous season ($14,589,012).

The total amount has more than doubled in the past eight years as it stood at $6.9M in 2006-07.

Above and beyond athletic scholarships, substantial additional financial support is available from universities to recognize academic success, financial need and leadership. In addition, many other organizations such as Sport Canada and the Canadian Hockey League also provide significant financial assistance to CIS student-athletes.

“Athletic scholarships are one of the key factors in recruiting and retaining the best and brightest student-athletes in Canada,” said CIS President, Thérèse Quigley. “The impressive total for 2013-14 as well as the constant increase over the past few years clearly indicate that CIS member institutions are committed to our student-athletes experience and to continuing to be leaders within the Canadian sport system.”

Forty-four percent of all CIS student-athlete receive an athletic scholarship which, on average, covers 52% of their tuition and compulsory fees.
 
From the perspective of gender equity, the breakdown of AFA recipients in 2013-14 – 53% male and 47% female - matched the gender breakdown of overall CIS student-athlete population. Male athletes, however, received 57% of athletic scholarship dollars, the same percentage as in 2012-13.

Although athletic awards are provided in every CIS sport, the largest average value of a scholarship to men was provided in basketball, hockey and volleyball.  For women, the largest average athletic scholarships were provided in basketball, volleyball and hockey.

In 2013-14, a record 2,861 CIS student-athletes (22.5%) achieved Academic All-Canadian status after maintaining an academic average of 80 percent or higher while competing for their university, demonstrating the Canadian commitment to success in the classroom as well as the playing field.
 
The athletic scholarship data can be found at:
http://en.cis-sic.ca/information/members_info/research_stats