There are NCAA rules and guidelines that coaches have to follow concerning the amount of time they can require of players during the school year.
The rules are different for Div. 1, 2 & 3. I have heard that every coach is different, and I would encourage this to be an important point of discussion with the coach and team players when being recruited by a school.
I can only speak about the Div. 1 MAC program by DD plays for.
Her coach is very good about communicating their practice, game & travel schedules well in advance and in writing.
They have practice the 1st day of school in August and they go non-stop until their season is over sometime in May - depending on how far they go in tournament play. They do get off Thanksgiving weekend, and Christmas break. But they are expected to work out and stay in top shape year round, their trainer sends them home for Christmas break with a detailed conditioning program, and they had better be in shape when they go back, or they will be sorry. They usually only get one day off per week. It is a very demanding schedule, but not impossible. It is often difficult to schedule their classes around the required practice times, but since they get priority scheduling that helps. If they cannot avoid a conflict between a class and practice, then the class wins. My DD was a 4.0 student in high school and so far she has a 3.96 GPA half way through her Sophomore year. If you play sports in HS and are a good student, then the likelyhood of them being a good student athlete in college is high. If they are not good students in HS - then playing Div 1 sports in college will be difficult. Another thing to consider is - NOT having time for any form of employment (except for the summer and Christmas breaks), if the athlete has a scholarship, then this hopefully off sets this, but if they are getting limited or no scholarship $, then this can be a very important factor. Another thing that is difficult for the athletes is missing class due to their travel schedule. My DD's team travels out of state for 5 or 6 tournaments in Feb & March and they usually leave sometime on Thursday and don't get back until very late Sun. PM or early Monday AM. Durng the MAC season, they usually have away games every other weekend, and leave Thursday evenings and get back Sunday nights. The girls try not to schedule any classes on Friday's during softball season, but sometimes it's not possible. The coaches work very closely with their players and make sure their professors are informed ahead of time what classes they will miss due to softball. In my DD's case, most professors have been very accomodating. In summary, it's definately not easy, but my DD thrives on the busy schedule and competition (and appreciates the significant scholarship $), and I think this experience will help prepare her for "adulthood" and the real world.