Top Colleges for Basketball Scholarships
The 50 U.S. colleges with the largest basketball programs by athlete participation — each shown with its school-level athletic-aid context.
Among schools that sponsor basketball, Stanford University in California tops our list — a NCAA Division I-FBS program with one of the largest athletic-aid budgets and 40 basketball athletes. We rank scholarship-awarding schools (NCAA Division I/II & NAIA — Division III awards no athletic aid) by division tier, then by the school’s overall athletic-aid scale, then by basketball roster size — because EADA reports athletic aid only school-wide (men’s/women’s totals), never per sport.
⚠️ About these aid figures
The athletic-aid columns below are school-level totals (all sports combined, split men’s/women’s) straight from EADA. They are not the amount awarded to basketball athletes specifically — EADA does not publish per-sport aid. Use them only as a signal of how much a school invests in athletics overall.
| # | School | Division | Basketball athletes | Men’s aid school-wide, all sports | Women’s aid school-wide, all sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford University Stanford, CA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 40 | $19,645,560 | $20,055,491 |
| 2 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 52 | $17,359,163 | $13,811,731 |
| 3 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 29 | $18,224,011 | $12,830,979 |
| 4 | Duke University Durham, NC | NCAA Division I-FBS | 32 | $15,690,493 | $14,408,801 |
| 5 | Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $15,234,454 | $13,816,950 |
| 6 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 47 | $15,118,920 | $13,525,051 |
| 7 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $14,880,630 | $13,049,548 |
| 8 | Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $14,106,996 | $12,962,005 |
| 9 | Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX | NCAA Division I-FBS | 29 | $14,048,800 | $12,058,976 |
| 10 | University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 57 | $14,175,770 | $11,154,557 |
| 11 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ | NCAA Division I-FBS | 46 | $13,653,780 | $11,643,557 |
| 12 | Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX | NCAA Division I-FBS | 31 | $14,468,095 | $10,661,381 |
| 13 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 27 | $14,065,058 | $10,299,943 |
| 14 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 45 | $12,260,488 | $11,447,980 |
| 15 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $12,255,855 | $11,189,256 |
| 16 | University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 55 | $12,306,273 | $10,832,606 |
| 17 | Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 46 | $12,975,789 | $8,521,844 |
| 18 | Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC | NCAA Division I-FBS | 39 | $13,950,491 | $7,501,401 |
| 19 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 26 | $12,472,888 | $8,380,411 |
| 20 | University of Miami Coral Gables, FL | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $11,056,171 | $9,527,348 |
| 21 | Baylor University Waco, TX | NCAA Division I-FBS | 48 | $11,199,854 | $8,961,215 |
| 22 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 40 | $11,887,217 | $8,225,423 |
| 23 | Rice University Houston, TX | NCAA Division I-FBS | 31 | $12,535,937 | $7,429,458 |
| 24 | University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK | NCAA Division I-FBS | 41 | $10,356,127 | $9,262,904 |
| 25 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ | NCAA Division I-FBS | 43 | $10,976,181 | $8,596,399 |
| 26 | Michigan State University East Lansing, MI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 32 | $11,243,351 | $8,241,631 |
| 27 | Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 56 | $10,607,303 | $8,778,138 |
| 28 | Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 31 | $11,564,470 | $7,807,326 |
| 29 | University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 46 | $9,893,320 | $9,235,885 |
| 30 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 37 | $9,757,332 | $9,264,581 |
| 31 | Auburn University Auburn, AL | NCAA Division I-FBS | 39 | $10,416,469 | $8,415,182 |
| 32 | University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 45 | $10,704,429 | $7,924,356 |
| 33 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 40 | $10,619,493 | $7,984,481 |
| 34 | University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $10,293,805 | $8,222,557 |
| 35 | University of Tulsa Tulsa, OK | NCAA Division I-FBS | 31 | $10,173,077 | $7,886,717 |
| 36 | The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL | NCAA Division I-FBS | 50 | $9,257,661 | $7,931,284 |
| 37 | University of Iowa Iowa City, IA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 46 | $7,802,248 | $9,371,272 |
| 38 | University of Kentucky Lexington, KY | NCAA Division I-FBS | 28 | $9,552,135 | $7,404,713 |
| 39 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC | NCAA Division I-FBS | 48 | $9,121,336 | $8,028,006 |
| 40 | University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT | NCAA Division I-FBS | 32 | $9,858,505 | $6,785,141 |
| 41 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL | NCAA Division I-FBS | 32 | $8,560,624 | $7,735,235 |
| 42 | The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX | NCAA Division I-FBS | 48 | $8,766,679 | $7,450,570 |
| 43 | University of Louisville Louisville, KY | NCAA Division I-FBS | 42 | $8,893,178 | $7,003,358 |
| 44 | Temple University Philadelphia, PA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 31 | $8,339,753 | $7,200,812 |
| 45 | University of Oregon Eugene, OR | NCAA Division I-FBS | 47 | $8,451,656 | $6,692,741 |
| 46 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL | NCAA Division I-FBS | 40 | $8,613,622 | $6,396,796 |
| 47 | University of Kansas Lawrence, KS | NCAA Division I-FBS | 33 | $7,519,848 | $7,211,641 |
| 48 | Clemson University Clemson, SC | NCAA Division I-FBS | 34 | $7,600,229 | $7,089,086 |
| 49 | Boise State University Boise, ID | NCAA Division I-FBS | 32 | $7,557,561 | $7,039,372 |
| 50 | University of Connecticut Storrs, CT | NCAA Division I-FBS | 27 | $7,415,129 | $6,962,175 |
How we ranked this
Schools are ranked by NCAA/NAIA division tier (Division I-FBS and I-FCS first), then by the school’s overall athletic-aid scale, then by basketball roster size (men + women), all reported to the U.S. Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA). Division III schools are excluded because they do not award athletic scholarships. The athletic-aid columns are the school’s men’s and women’s aid totals across all sports, shown for context; they are not allocated to basketball — EADA reports aid only school-wide, never per sport. Only schools that can be matched to a named institution and report at least one basketball participant are listed (minimum 5schools to publish a page). Empty cells (“—”) mean the school reported no value; we never estimate.
Frequently asked questions
Does EADA data show basketball scholarship amounts per sport?+
No. The federal Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) reports athletic student aid only as a school-level total, split into men’s and women’s totals — it does not break aid down by individual sport. This page therefore ranks schools by their participation in basketball and shows the school’s overall athletic-aid totals as context only. We never present a per-sport aid figure.
Which colleges rank highest for basketball scholarships?+
Stanford University (California), a NCAA Division I-FBS program, leads our ranking of scholarship-awarding basketball schools. We rank by division tier and the school's overall athletic-aid scale (athletic aid is reported school-wide, not per sport), then by basketball roster size.
Do all basketball programs offer athletic scholarships?+
No. NCAA Division III and some other associations do not award athletic scholarships at all, while Division I, Division II and NAIA schools may. A school showing $0 in athletic aid in our table typically does not offer athletic scholarships. Always confirm with the program directly.
How are these basketball colleges ranked?+
By the number of student-athletes participating in the sport (men plus women) as reported to EADA — the only per-sport signal the dataset provides. A larger program generally means more roster spots and recruiting activity, but it does not guarantee a larger scholarship.
Keep exploring
Data sources: U.S. Dept. of Education EADA (Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act) · IPEDS · College Scorecard. Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.