Across the country, these programs are helping students earn scholarships, develop life skills, and find a sense of purpose. What starts as a learning focus and responsibility often grows into something even deeper, confidence, community, and healing.
Scholarships That Open Doors
Beyond personal growth, shooting sports can help students afford higher education. Scholarships range from $500 to $5000 per year, depending on the school, performance, and team funding.
Programs such as the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) offer scholarships to high school seniors in the Scholastic Clay Target and Action Shooting Programs. Since 2013, SSSF has awarded over $1.2 million in scholarships to students across nearly all 50 states.
The NRA Collegiate Shooting Scholarship and the NRA Youth Education Summit (Y.E.S.) Scholarship also support student shooters. The Y.E.S. program alone has awarded more than $700,000 to over 900 students since 1996, helping young marksmen pursue degrees and leadership opportunities.
External partners such as the MidwayUSA Foundation provide grants to collegiate shooting teams, ensuring access to proper training, equipment, and travel funds.
For many, these scholarships open doors to college experiences, and to futures they might not have imagined possible.
Top Colleges with Shooting Programs
Shooting sports are growing nationwide, with a multitude of programs offering competition opportunities, mentorship, and scholarships. Some of the most recognized include:
- Texas A&M University (TX) – One of the largest collegiate shooting teams in the country. Competes in trap, skeet, and sporting clays at ACUI nationals. Welcomes beginners and elite competitors.
- Colorado State University (CO) – A student-lead, nationally ranked club emphasizing safety, inclusivity, and teamwork.
- Lindenwood University (MO) – A powerhouse in collegiate shotgun sports and multiple-time national champion. Known for leadership, discipline, and scholarships for top athletes.
- Schreiner University (TX) – Located near San Antonio’s National Shooting Complex, Schreiner offers athletic scholarships and covers travel and ammunition costs for competitors.
- Hillsdale College (MI) – Home to the John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Center and offers the Ladies for Liberty Shooting Scholarship (half-tuition for female team members).
- University of Tennessee Southern – The Firehawks Clay Target Team has earned 5 national titles and focuses on mentorship and excellence.
- Liberty University – A faith-based, nationally ranked program training at the Liberty Mountain Gun Club. They have been national champions in multiple divisions.
These teams represent just a fraction of the growing collegiate community, where safety, teamwork, and self-improvement take center stage.
Kids To Kings
Programs like Walk The Talk America’s “Kids to Kings” show how powerful opportunity can be. Focused on helping young people overcome complex trauma and grow into confident leaders, Kids to Kings uses structured firearm education to teach discipline, focus, and responsibility. Volunteers often say they see hope in the kids’ eyes when they realize that shooting sports open doors and a chance at a better future. These kids begin to see that structured sport and leadership programs can open doors to new possibilities, whether that’s stronger focus, mentorship, or even higher-education ambitions.
While football or basketball scholarships are often viewed as the main way out of tough upbringings, Kids to Kings sheds light on another path: one built on craftsmanship, discipline, and responsibility. It’s about showing young people that firearms, when approached through education and respect, can open doors to meaningful skills, community roles, and even future careers. Firearms can give them a better life, whether it’s being the community gunsmith or partaking in competition shooting, it gives them opportunities
By reframing how youth view firearms and themselves, Kids to Kings bridges the gap between opportunity and emotional healing, proving that structure, focus, and mentorship can truly change lives.
A Healthy Outlet for Tough Backgrounds
Beyond scholarships and competition, shooting sports offer something harder to measure but just as valuable, mental balance and emotional growth. College can be stressful even under the best circumstances, but for students coming from broken or unpredictable homes, the pressure to adjust, achieve, and stay balanced can feel very overwhelming.
That’s why having a constructive outlet matters so much. Shooting sports give students an activity that requires their full focus and attention, the kind that naturally quiets all of the noise inside your head. When you’re on the range, your mind narrows to the rhythm of your breathing, the feeling of your finger on the trigger, and the target in front of you.
It’s more than a sport; it’s a form of structured therapy. Mindfulness, discipline, and concentration can help students from difficult backgrounds build more confidence and focus on their emotional control one breath at a time.
The Power of Focus and Responsibility
There’s something calming about being on the range. Shooting requires patience, focus, and control, things that can help quiet a mind racing with thoughts. It teaches you to slow down, focus on what matters in the moment, and block out distractions.
It’s not about being the best or being aggressive, it’s about focus and control. It’s about learning that calm and confidence can go hand in hand with responsibility. Many college shooting programs emphasize safety first, responsible use, and proper storage. Knowing your weapon, understanding the immense power behind it, and learning to use it effectively are all essential things which can be learned from joining a structured shooting team.
Collegiate teams often compete in postal matches (competing from different locations) and shoulder to shoulder matches (on the same range). They also participate in major national championships, including the NCAA Rifle Championship, NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championship, and the ACUI Clay Target Championship.
More Than a Sport, A Community.
For many students, college shooting teams become like a family. They bring together people from diverse backgrounds who share common values: safety, respect, and teamwork. Coaches often serve as mentors, teaching not only marksmanship but also life lessons in patience and perseverance.
From small community colleges to large universities, shooting programs give students a sense of belonging, and that sense of belonging can make a huge impact on someone who grew up feeling isolated or unsupported.
Changing The Conversation
From programs like Kids to Kings to collegiate shooting teams across the nation, Walk The Talk America continues to prove that responsible firearm culture and mental wellness can thrive together.
At Walk The Talk America, we believe conversations around firearms and mental health can and should coexist. Through free mental-health screenings, community outreach, and partnerships with educators and ranges nationwide, we’re working to ensure firearm culture and mental wellness go hand in hand.
By supporting college programs that emphasize safety, structure, and inclusion, we’re helping create the next generation of responsible, confident, and mindful firearm owners, individuals who see the range not as a place of tension, but a place of peace and purpose.
You can take a free, anonymous mental-health screening anytime right here: Walk the Talk America Screening Portal
A Closing Thought
Shooting Sports in college aren’t just about hitting targets, they’re about finding focus, community, and confidence. For students who grew up facing adversity, they offer something deeper: a way to heal, belong, and build a future through discipline and education.
With over 500 programs nationwide, a multitude of scholarships, and a growing community of supportive peers and mentors, shooting sports are creating both opportunity and balance, helping students find calm in focus, and strength in responsibility.