Almost 50% Of Parents Believe Their Kid Will Get An Athletic Scholarship But Only 2% Of Kids Actually Do

If you think that putting your kid in all these sports and activities will help them score that athletic scholarship way down the line, you’re not alone, because, as one mom says, the system is set up to make parents think that it’s all worth the investment, but unfortunately, the stats say otherwise.

After stitching a clip of Economic Liberties Senior Legal Fellow Katherine Van Dyck testifying in front of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, where she dropped the unfortunate data that while almost 50% of parents believe they are going to help their kid get that college scholarship for sports, only 2% of kids actually end up getting them.

That’s a huge gap, and as Melissa Panzer puts it, that’s not an accident.

“It's an extraction model, which just means the system makes money by pulling more and more out from families without actually improving the income. Nearly half of parents believe their child will earn an athletic scholarship, but the real number is 2%. That gap isn’t accidental. It's what makes the whole system profitable,” she says.

Panzer points out that private club sports saw an opportunity when public funding for youth sports shrank.

“Clubs, travel teams, elite leagues, they all stepped in, and they don't make money by telling parents to slow down. They make money by selling possibility by implying that if you start early enough, pay enough, and commit enough, you might buy your kids an edge,” she says.

These private clubs are preying on parents because they know that college has become so expensive that no one can really “save their way into it,” as Panzer says.

“So, parents start looking for any way to reduce that bill later. And sports have become one of the few paths that still look merit-based. Most parents don't actually believe that their kid is the exception, but when college feels impossible to pay for, hope still creeps in. Because the alternative is debt, and that follows your kid around for decades, and that sucks. And that's why families keep paying, not because they're foolish, but because the system is designed to monetize fear and aspiration at the same time. And that's what's infuriating.”

“Parents aren't the problem, they're the product.”

For context, there are roughly 8 million high school athletes in the U.S. each year, and about 160,000 will receive any athletic scholarship money. Even when that occurs, most of those scholarships are partial, not full rides.

“Meanwhile, youth sports has grown into a $30+ billion industry — almost entirely funded by families. That mismatch isn’t an accident. It’s the business model,” Panzer writes in her caption on the now-viral video.

So, what can parents do? Panzer has a few ideas.

First, ask your child what they actually enjoy doing, “not what feels strategic”, as Panzer says. They might end up finding joy and a scholarship in another area that’s not sports. Next, set a clear family budget before a sports season starts, and remember that most college pathways do not run through elite youth sports. Lastly, if it all becomes too much, know that opting out is not “falling behind.”