Softball Scholarships After the House Settlement: D1, D2, D3, NAIA and NJCAA | RosterWise™

You will still see “12” quoted as Division I softball’s scholarship limit. It isn’t the rule today. The House v. NCAA settlement changed Division I softball from a scholarship limit to a roster limit, and the other levels each run on rules of their own.

This page summarizes each level for softball. The settlement’s mechanics, including revenue sharing, designated student-athletes, which players don’t count toward a roster limit and how a school opts in or out, are in our House settlement guide. We don’t repeat them here.

The short version

Division I at settlement schools: 25 players, no scholarship limit

Schools in the five defendant conferences (the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) and Division I schools that opt in to the settlement must keep each sport within a roster limit. For softball it is 25 (2026-27 Division I Manual, Bylaw 17.2). At those schools there is no limit on the number of athletic scholarships a softball program may give, as long as the team stays within its roster limit (Bylaw 16.13.1.5).

Aid can still be full or partial: the NCAA’s implementation guidance says Division I aid may be given in any amount, full or partial, in any sport (Q&A B3). A roster limit of 25 tells you how many places there are, not how many of them are funded or for how much. That is a question for each coach.

The limit counts every player on the submitted roster, with or without aid, apart from the exceptions our House settlement guide lists. That has consequences for walk-ons; see Walk-On Types.

Division I schools outside the settlement

A Division I school outside the five conferences that doesn’t opt in has no national roster limit: its conference or the school itself may set one. Its aid is limited differently. If it gives softball aid above the 2024-25 Division I limit, 12 equivalencies, it becomes subject to the settlement, roster limit included (NCAA Q&A, A11 and A16).

A conference may also set its own roster limit below 25, but the NCAA’s guidance says it may not be lower than the sport’s 2024-25 scholarship limit, which for softball means not below 12 (Q&A A15).

A school that stayed out may opt in for a later academic year during the settlement’s ten-year term (Q&A A9). Ask each Division I program which rules it will follow in the year your daughter would enroll.

Where “12 scholarships” comes from

Before the settlement, Division I softball was an equivalency sport with a limit of 12 (2024-25 Division I Bylaw 15.5.3.1.2). An equivalency limit caps the total value of a team’s athletic aid, not the number of players who get some; a coach could split 12 scholarships’ worth of aid among more than 12 players. The NCAA’s own guidance now says plainly that the Division I Manual “no longer includes institutional financial aid limits for any sport” (Q&A B2).

So “12” is history at a settlement school, and a threshold at a school outside it. A page that still calls it Division I’s current limit predates the settlement.

Division II: 7.2 equivalencies

Division II softball keeps an equivalency limit of 7.2 per team (2026-27 Division II Manual, Bylaw 15.4.2.1.2). As with Division I’s old limit, a coach may divide that value among players. The NCAA sets no Division II roster limit. A recruit who receives a Division I or II athletics scholarship signs the school’s financial aid agreement.

Division III: no athletic aid

Division III schools may not award financial aid on the basis of athletic ability or participation (2026-27 Division III Manual, Bylaw 15.01.3). Ask each school’s financial aid office what a player can receive the way any student does. For how families combine kinds of aid at any level, see Stacking Academic and Athletic Aid.

NAIA: 10

The NAIA’s upper limit for institutional aid in softball is 10 (NAIA Handbook 2026-27, Council of Presidents policy XIII). It counts more than athletic awards: academic, leadership and performance scholarships the school funds or controls count too. The NAIA places no limit on varsity roster size. More in NAIA Softball for Recruits.

NJCAA: set by division

The NJCAA defines what each of its three divisions may pay (NJCAA Bylaws 2026-27, Article VI):

• Division I may cover tuition and course fees, room and board, course-related books, up to $250 a year of required course supplies, and one round trip home a year.
• Division II may cover tuition and course-related fees, books and up to $250 of required supplies, but not travel.
• Division III may not give athletic scholarships of any kind.

The number of softball scholarships each NJCAA team may give is listed on the NJCAA’s Sports Procedures Chart, which we have not been able to read. We don’t print a figure. More in Junior College Softball.

Questions to ask coaches

1. “Is your school in the House settlement for the year my daughter would enroll?” At a settlement school the roster limit is 25; outside it, the program’s conference or school sets any limit.
2. “How many players will be on the roster, and how is aid divided among them?” Neither the roster limit nor the old equivalency limit tells you what one player receives.
3. “Is the offer for one year or more, and what happens to it if I’m injured or the coach leaves?” Ask for the answer in the written financial aid agreement.
4. “Does my academic scholarship count against the team’s limit?” In the NAIA, academic scholarships the school funds or controls are countable aid. Ask how the program counts yours.

The landscape is still settling

The settlement’s rules are new and the NCAA updates its implementation guidance during the year; the guidance cited here was updated May 29, 2026. We re-read these documents each season and when the NCAA announces a change, and the date at the top of this page tells you when we last did.