How To Become A Student Athlete: What It Is and Career Path

What is a student athlete and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A student-athlete is a student who is an athlete. He/She competes in various sporting events as the representative of the school or institution. Most student athletes are scholarship recipients. They receive an allowance from the school or a particular organization. They attend rigorous training and practices. Also, they are expected to abide by the policies of the university. As a student athlete, you must display good sportsmanship and maintain a standard academic grade. Moreover, you may participate in different workshops. Additionally, you'll represent the school in public gatherings. Student athletes can become professional athletes after graduation.

To qualify as a student-athlete, you must have graduated high school with an approved standard academic diploma. You must meet the regular entrance requirements of the school. You must possess excellent writing and interpersonal skills. Student athletes earn an average allowance of $41,793 per year, approximately $20.09 per hour. It varies between $27,000 and $64,000.

ScoreStudent AthleteUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $45,705

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.0

Growth Rate 20%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.22%

Asian 5.40%

Black or African American 8.75%

Hispanic or Latino 13.05%

Unknown 5.70%

White 66.87%

Gender

female 41.94%

male 58.06%

Age - 34

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 34

Stress Level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.3

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a student athlete

Explore student athlete education requirements

Most common student athlete degrees

Bachelor's

83.8 %

Master's

6.1 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific student athlete skills

Skills	Percentages
NCAA	21.20%
Teamwork	7.80%
GPA	6.57%
Championship	5.26%
Soccer	4.82%

Complete relevant student athlete training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New student athletes learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a student athlete based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real student athlete resumes.

Research student athlete duties and responsibilities

Manage class schedule of all assign athletes and ensure that the student-athlete is maintaining the proper GPA.
Achieve national swimming championship honors.
Achieve all-conference honors junior and senior years
Initiate and manage community service, sportsmanship, nutritional and official NCAA programming for student-athletes

Prepare your student athlete resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your student athlete resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a student athlete resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Student Athlete Resume templates

Build a professional Student Athlete resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Student Athlete resume.