Top Colleges for Ice Hockey Scholarships
The 50 U.S. colleges with the largest ice hockey programs by athlete participation — each shown with its school-level athletic-aid context.
Among schools that sponsor ice hockey, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in Michigan tops our list — a NCAA Division I-FBS program with one of the largest athletic-aid budgets and 27 ice hockey 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 ice hockey 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 ice hockey 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 | Ice Hockey athletes | Men’s aid school-wide, all sports | Women’s aid school-wide, all sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 27 | $17,359,163 | $13,811,731 |
| 2 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 29 | $18,224,011 | $12,830,979 |
| 3 | Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH | NCAA Division I-FBS | 50 | $15,234,454 | $13,816,950 |
| 4 | Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 54 | $14,106,996 | $12,962,005 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 49 | $14,065,058 | $10,299,943 |
| 6 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY | NCAA Division I-FBS | 24 | $12,255,855 | $11,189,256 |
| 7 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ | NCAA Division I-FBS | 29 | $10,976,181 | $8,596,399 |
| 8 | Michigan State University East Lansing, MI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 26 | $11,243,351 | $8,241,631 |
| 9 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN | NCAA Division I-FBS | 52 | $9,757,332 | $9,264,581 |
| 10 | University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 50 | $10,704,429 | $7,924,356 |
| 11 | University of Connecticut Storrs, CT | NCAA Division I-FBS | 53 | $7,415,129 | $6,962,175 |
| 12 | University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA | NCAA Division I-FBS | 27 | $6,993,887 | $6,591,712 |
| 13 | Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH | NCAA Division I-FBS | 30 | $7,553,520 | $5,077,561 |
| 14 | Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI | NCAA Division I-FBS | 29 | $5,214,757 | $3,158,309 |
| 15 | Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH | NCAA Division I-FBS | 28 | $5,020,679 | $3,264,458 |
| 16 | Long Island University Brookville, NY | NCAA Division I-FCS | 59 | $10,169,698 | $8,044,977 |
| 17 | Colgate University Hamilton, NY | NCAA Division I-FCS | 49 | $9,728,576 | $7,809,056 |
| 18 | Merrimack College North Andover, MA | NCAA Division I-FCS | 57 | $9,697,148 | $7,495,356 |
| 19 | Sacred Heart University Fairfield, CT | NCAA Division I-FCS | 66 | $7,791,350 | $7,887,879 |
| 20 | College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA | NCAA Division I-FCS | 54 | $8,245,632 | $6,475,741 |
| 21 | University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH | NCAA Division I-FCS | 52 | $6,092,530 | $6,067,389 |
| 22 | Mercyhurst University Erie, PA | NCAA Division I-FCS | 57 | $6,299,277 | $4,573,510 |
| 23 | Stonehill College Easton, MA | NCAA Division I-FCS | 56 | $5,796,769 | $4,626,429 |
| 24 | University of St Thomas Saint Paul, MN | NCAA Division I-FCS | 52 | $3,766,948 | $5,402,693 |
| 25 | Robert Morris University Moon Township, PA | NCAA Division I-FCS | 55 | $4,767,708 | $4,200,831 |
| 26 | University of Maine Orono, ME | NCAA Division I-FCS | 52 | $4,695,278 | $3,704,110 |
| 27 | Lindenwood University Saint Charles, MO | NCAA Division I-FCS | 54 | $4,361,510 | $3,350,197 |
| 28 | University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND | NCAA Division I-FCS | 27 | $3,051,530 | $2,640,836 |
| 29 | Yale University New Haven, CT | NCAA Division I-FCS | 61 | $0 | $0 |
| 30 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY | NCAA Division I-FCS | 58 | $0 | $0 |
| 31 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA | NCAA Division I-FCS | 57 | $0 | $0 |
| 32 | Brown University Providence, RI | NCAA Division I-FCS | 55 | $0 | $0 |
| 33 | Dartmouth College Hanover, NH | NCAA Division I-FCS | 52 | $0 | $0 |
| 34 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ | NCAA Division I-FCS | 50 | $0 | $0 |
| 35 | Boston University Boston, MA | NCAA Division I without football | 52 | $7,660,009 | $12,606,968 |
| 36 | Northeastern University Boston, MA | NCAA Division I without football | 57 | $7,576,875 | $9,510,862 |
| 37 | University of Denver Denver, CO | NCAA Division I without football | 25 | $7,084,290 | $8,870,786 |
| 38 | Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT | NCAA Division I without football | 52 | $5,126,092 | $9,553,664 |
| 39 | Providence College Providence, RI | NCAA Division I without football | 53 | $5,659,483 | $7,967,026 |
| 40 | University of Vermont Burlington, VT | NCAA Division I without football | 56 | $3,455,030 | $4,573,118 |
| 41 | University of Massachusetts-Lowell Lowell, MA | NCAA Division I without football | 32 | $3,814,160 | $3,536,360 |
| 42 | Niagara University Niagara University, NY | NCAA Division I without football | 28 | $2,976,260 | $3,414,951 |
| 43 | Canisius University Buffalo, NY | NCAA Division I without football | 31 | $2,395,263 | $2,199,149 |
| 44 | University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, NE | NCAA Division I without football | 28 | $2,120,730 | $2,228,719 |
| 45 | Midland University Fremont, NE | NAIA Division II | 52 | $10,921,817 | $4,283,507 |
| 46 | McKendree University Lebanon, IL | NCAA Division II with football | 53 | $4,271,183 | $3,281,590 |
| 47 | Augustana University Sioux Falls, SD | NCAA Division II with football | 27 | $4,002,674 | $3,120,422 |
| 48 | American International College Springfield, MA | NCAA Division II with football | 34 | $4,524,913 | $2,579,699 |
| 49 | Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI | NCAA Division II with football | 29 | $3,700,697 | $1,769,260 |
| 50 | Bentley University Waltham, MA | NCAA Division II with football | 30 | $3,456,788 | $2,027,035 |
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 ice hockey 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 ice hockey — EADA reports aid only school-wide, never per sport. Only schools that can be matched to a named institution and report at least one ice hockey 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 ice hockey 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 ice hockey 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 ice hockey scholarships?+
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Michigan), a NCAA Division I-FBS program, leads our ranking of scholarship-awarding ice hockey 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 ice hockey roster size.
Do all ice hockey 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 ice hockey 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.