College athletic scholarships are hard to earn. Soccer scholarships can be especially difficult, as college programs often don't have a large recruiting budget. Soccer athletes have to work extra hard to get a college's attention.

To earn a scholarship, it is advisable to compete in the best leagues possible. Athletes should not rely solely on their high school competition to be noticed. If an athlete's high school competition is not very competitive, they will need to play on club teams where the best players from several different high school teams combine to make better competition. Athletes should also attempt to play in ranking tournaments which will be watched by more scouts.

One of the ways to ensure that a coach will see the player is to attend the soccer camp put on by that school or coach in the summer. Coaches and athletes are able to form relationships at these camps, and sometimes coaches are able to look beyond current ability and see that a soccer player has potential and take a chance and offer a possible scholarship.

Another way to attract attention is to prepare a DVD of season highlights and send that to the coach. This is more effective if a high school coach, athletic director, or club coach has a relationship with the college athletic director or coach and asks them to look at the DVD. Some college programs receive many DVDs, and the college coach and his staff may not be able to take the time to watch every one of them. If a program does express interest in a player, it is a good idea to keep the coach up-to-date with statistics so that the player will remain on the coach's mind as a decision is made on what scholarships will go to which student athletes.

Different divisions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) have different levels of academic requirements for athletes. Coaches prefer that athletes come above the bare minimum academic requirements, as the coach is taking a chance by committing money to that student athlete for the scholarship, and the coach wants to feel confident that the student will make the grade once enrolled in college.

Earning a scholarship in any sport is difficult, and soccer is no exception. If a student athlete has not only got the talent, but also the dedication and drive to succeed, he or she may have a chance to earn a free, or less expensive college education thanks to a scholarship.