College soccer players get paid through three main channels: name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with outside companies, athletic scholarships from their schools, and — starting with the 2025–26 season — direct revenue-sharing payments from their universities under the House v. NCAA settlement. None of it looks like a traditional paycheck, and how much any individual player actually receives depends on their division, their school’s budget, and their own marketability.
Athletic Scholarships
Scholarships are still the most common form of financial support for college soccer players. Division I and Division II programs can award them based on athletic ability. Division III cannot: financial aid at DIII schools must follow the same criteria applied to every other student.1NCAA. Division III Financial Aid Reporting Program
Soccer is an “equivalency” sport, which means coaches divide a limited pool of scholarship dollars across the roster rather than handing out a set number of full rides. Before the House settlement, Division I men’s soccer programs had 9.9 full-scholarship equivalencies to split across the entire team, and women’s programs had 14. Division II caps are 9.0 for men and 9.9 for women.2NCAA.org. Division II Partial-Scholarship Model In practice, most soccer players receive only a partial scholarship covering a fraction of their costs.
That changes for Division I schools that opt into the House settlement. Beginning in 2025–26, sport-specific scholarship caps are eliminated and schools can offer aid to every athlete on the roster, up to 28 per soccer team. Wealthier programs will fund more of those slots than others, so the ceiling is not a promise.
A full scholarship typically covers tuition, fees, room, board, and required course materials. Many Division I schools also add a cost-of-attendance stipend for expenses like transportation, clothing, and personal supplies, generally worth a few thousand dollars a year. On top of that, the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in NCAA v. Alston struck down NCAA limits on education-related benefits, so schools can also offer things like graduate school scholarships, computers, paid post-eligibility internships, and academic tutoring.3Supreme Court of the United States. Opinion in NCAA v. Alston, No. 20-512
The dollar value of a full scholarship swings hard by school. At an expensive private university, the package can top $80,000 a year once tuition, housing, meals, and stipends are added up. At a public school charging in-state rates, it’s often less than half that. Players generally must keep a cumulative 2.0 GPA to hold onto the money.
Name, Image, and Likeness Deals
Since July 2021, the NCAA’s interim NIL policy has let all college athletes, soccer players included, earn money from their personal brand.4NCAA.org. NCAA Adopts Interim Name, Image and Likeness Policy A player can sign endorsement deals with local businesses, get paid for social media promotions, make paid appearances, or license their name and likeness for merchandise. The money always comes from outside the university: brands, businesses, or NIL collectives funded by boosters.
Earnings vary enormously. Star athletes in high-profile sports can command six- or seven-figure deals, but most college soccer players work at a smaller scale. Local restaurant sponsorships, gear exchanges, and social media partnerships are more typical. Athletes have to report their NIL activities to their athletic department, and deals must comply with the laws of the state where the school is located.4NCAA.org. NCAA Adopts Interim Name, Image and Likeness Policy California’s Fair Pay to Play Act, signed in 2019, was the first state law guaranteeing athletes the right to profit from NIL, and nearly every state has since followed.
Players can hire a lawyer to review NIL contracts, but there are limits. An attorney may advise on a proposed deal, but the NCAA prohibits a lawyer from being present during contract negotiations with a company or having direct contact with the company on the player’s behalf; doing so is treated the same as hiring an agent. Separately, signing with an agent to market your athletic ability in a sport makes you ineligible in that sport. The NCAA currently runs a formal agent-certification program only for men’s basketball, so soccer players considering professional representation should check with their compliance office first.5NCAA. NCAA Agent Certification Frequently Asked Questions
Direct Revenue Sharing From Schools
The biggest structural change in college sports pay arrived on June 6, 2025, when a federal judge approved the final settlement in House v. NCAA. For the first time, Division I schools are allowed to share athletic revenue directly with athletes.6NCAA.org. A Letter from NCAA President Charlie Baker Schools that opt in can distribute money from broadcast contracts, ticket sales, and other athletic revenue straight to their players.
The settlement caps those payments at 22.5% of the average athletic revenue across Power Five conferences. For 2025–26, that works out to roughly $20.5 million per school.6NCAA.org. A Letter from NCAA President Charlie Baker The model runs for 10 years, with the cap rising each year as revenues grow, and schools that exceed it face enforcement penalties.
Each school decides how to slice that money across sports. Football and men’s basketball generate the most revenue and are expected to receive the largest shares, so soccer will likely draw a smaller portion. These payments are different in kind from NIL money: they come from the university’s own athletic budget, not from an outside brand.
Title IX and Women’s Soccer
Revenue sharing opens a real Title IX question. Federal law requires scholarship dollars to be distributed proportionally to male and female athletes based on participation, and it requires equitable treatment and benefits overall.7NCAA.org. Title IX Frequently Asked Questions The House settlement deliberately left Title IX claims unresolved. A school that funnels most of its revenue pool to football and men’s basketball could invite lawsuits, and some schools may hedge by distributing revenue in proportion to their student-athlete gender demographics. How each school handles the balance will directly shape what soccer players, especially women’s soccer players, actually get.
Taxes on NIL and Revenue-Sharing Income
Money earned through NIL deals is taxable income, and that includes non-cash compensation like merchandise or gift cards. The IRS treats student-athletes as independent contractors for NIL purposes, so payers who send $600 or more issue a Form 1099-NEC rather than a W-2. Athletes report the income on Schedule C attached to their Form 1040.8Internal Revenue Service. Name, Image and Likeness Income
Self-employment tax catches many athletes off guard. Because no employer is withholding Social Security or Medicare, the athlete owes the full 15.3% self-employment tax (12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare) on net earnings above $400.9Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) For 2026, the Social Security portion applies to the first $184,500 of combined wages and self-employment income.10Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base Single filers with more than $200,000 in total income owe an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax.
With no withholding at the source, athletes earning more than a small amount should make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid an underpayment penalty. The 2026 deadlines are April 15, June 15, and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. The fourth-quarter payment can be skipped if you file your 2026 return and pay the full balance by February 1, 2027.11IRS.gov. Form 1040-ES – Estimated Tax for Individuals
Revenue-sharing payments from universities are expected to be treated as self-employment income rather than wages, so the same rules apply: no withholding, 1099 reporting, quarterly estimated payments. Athletes drawing both NIL and revenue-share money should track the combined total, since it drives both the tax bracket and the self-employment liability.
International Players on F-1 Visas
International soccer players on F-1 student visas face restrictions that can limit or eliminate NIL income. F-1 visas are issued for study, not work, and federal immigration law heavily restricts off-campus employment. If an NIL deal requires the athlete to perform an active service in the United States, such as making an appearance, filming a commercial, or creating social media content, the payment is considered active income and could be treated as unauthorized employment, putting the visa at risk.
Passive income, like royalties for simply granting a company permission to use a name or likeness, sits in a grey area. Some immigration attorneys argue truly passive licensing income doesn’t count as employment, but the line between passive and active is blurry once social media content is involved. The Department of Homeland Security said in a 2021 broadcast message that it “continues to assess” the issue, and no formal regulatory guidance has followed.
One useful distinction: U.S. immigration rules apply based on where the activity is performed, not where the company or payment sits. An international player who signs with a brand in their home country and performs all obligations outside the United States generally isn’t caught by the same restrictions. F-1 athletes should work with both their school’s international student office and an immigration attorney before signing anything.
What Players Still Don’t Get
Despite the changes, college soccer players are not classified as employees of their universities. They don’t receive an hourly wage, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, or employer-provided health benefits for their athletic participation. The NCAA limits countable athletic activities to 20 hours per week during the playing season, but the current framework treats that time as educational training rather than work.
Health coverage runs through a different channel. The NCAA maintains a Catastrophic Injury Insurance Program that covers all student-athletes and pays medical expenses up to $20 million per athlete per covered accident for the athlete’s lifetime, after a $90,000 deductible and after other insurance is exhausted.12NCAA. NCAA Catastrophic Injury Insurance Program Benefit Summary Individual schools often carry additional policies, but the coverage varies and typically ends when the player leaves the program.