Athletic scholarships: CIS schools provided over $10M to student-athletes in 2009-10

OTTAWA (CIS) - Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced on Monday the findings of its data collection on athletic scholarships provided by Canadian universities during the course of the 2009-10 academic year.
 
The data reveals that in ’09-10 Canadian universities together provided $10,603,619 in athletic scholarship money to CIS student-athletes. 
 
“CIS is delighted that student-athletes continue to receive a significant amount of financial support to pursue their academics and athletics at Canadian universities.” says CIS Chief Executive Officer, Marg McGregor.
 
“Above and beyond the athletic scholarships, there is substantial additional financial support available from universities to recognize academic success, financial need and leadership. In addition many other organizations such as Sport Canada, Swimming Canada and the Canadian Hockey League also provide significant financial assistance to CIS student-athletes.”
 
“We know the availability of athletic scholarships is one of the key considerations for our best student-athletes staying in Canada and pursuing their athletic and academic careers at a CIS institution,” adds CIS President Clint Hamilton. “To that end CIS members continue to work very hard in growing our scholarship capacity and once again the data evidences this strong commitment.”
 
The average undergraduate tuition in Canada (including compulsory fees) is $5,138, a fraction of the cost of tuition south of the border.
 
Last year over 2,300 CIS student-athletes (23%) achieved an academic average of 80 percent or higher while competing for their universities, demonstrating the Canadian commitment to success in the classroom as well as the playing field.
 
“Canadians have a tendency to be self-deprecating by nature, we are naturally humble and tend to underestimate how great we are,” says McGregor. “It’s time we stopped apologizing. The quality of Canadian universities is world class, significant financial support is available, playing time opportunities and exposure to Team Canada coaches is often better in Canada, and CIS coaches are top-notch.”
 
“When one considers all the factors CIS should be the destination of choice for top student-athletes.”
 
From the perspective of a gender comparison, in 2009-10, 59% of athletic scholarship dollars went to male student-athletes, who represent 54% of all CIS student-athletes. 
 
Although athletic awards are provided in every CIS sport, the largest average value of an athletic scholarship to men was provided in hockey, basketball, and football.  For women, the largest average athletic scholarships were provided in basketball, volleyball and hockey.
 
The athletic scholarship data can be found at:
http://english.cis-sic.ca/information/members_info/research_stats 
 
 
-CIS-