Advice for 0 EFC, low grades student with sport hook (but not DI level)

College Search & Selection
1

I need some realistic advice for a friend of my son. This is a boy (grad yr 2019) from a refugee family that we and another family have helped for the last 10 years. ‘Help’ in terms of navigating school, soccer teams, and summer jobs—things that are really hard for a refugee family to navigate when they don’t speak/read English and don’t have a car.

He is keen to play soccer in college, but it’s going to be at a low level. He’s not aiming for DI at all. This is where I come in, as I can help him contact local coaches. BUT here are his constraints:

  • No money. Absolutely zip.
  • Not very good grades. 2.5 overall and 2.3 for academic courses (NCAA).
  • Not going to have good standardized test scores. If he can get 900 on the SAT, there will be a celebration.

He’s a good kid and could get much better grades if he’d just turn in his homework consistently. Alas it’s junior year, so I think is what he is going to have to work with.

Given his money situation and grades, I’m thinking that community college and living at home is his only option. He has a good job record (at min wage jobs), so he can make some from that. I’m assuming that going to a state directional is not possible financially if you have no money at all and cannot live at home. There is no state directional in our city so he’d have to live on campus. I ran some NPCs and it looked like Pell/Federal grants would not cover enough.

Am I missing anything? Is CC pretty much his option? He has a very compelling backstory, but I’m not sure that is going to help him get $ for college.

Thanks for any advice!

2

What state is he in? Some states have pretty good state aid.

Permanent resident or citizen? That could make a big difference as some aid is only available to citizens. Can he even file a FAFSA?

Has he been evaluated for learning issues? He may get more time on a standardized test if he has a diagnosis. Or some teachers who follow up on the homework issue. The CG could negotiate some accommodations.

For the soccer, I recommend D2 schools. Some have a lot of money for sports. There are tons of small D2 schools in North and South Carolina. There are also JUCO schools where he might do well. NCAA just changed the D2 admissions requirement, but I don’t think they are harder, just different.

3

State is WA.

Permanent resident, I think. But I’ll check.

Re FAFSA, good point I’ll find that out.

He has not. If he were in a different family situation, I bet he would have been tested as I’ve often thought he struggles more than he should with reading. Anyhow, I don’t see that happening as it is not something he can make happen by himself. However, we will work with on test prep over the summer. I don’t know what his PSAT was as he tossed the paper, and multiple proddings have not gotten him into to see the GC to get the report.

There are a few nearby. I will look into admission requirements. I don’t have a sense of how ‘bad’ a 2.3 (2.5 overall) is. He was at a 2.8 at end of sophomore year, and then…well junior year happened.

4

Does he want to go to college? It doesn’t sound like it. I think college sports are wonderful and give many kids a chance to go to college (or a specific college) who might otherwise not be able to go, but the student still has to want to be IN college, to do the school work.

There really are a lot who don’t want to be there, just want to play soccer or basketball or baseball. They don’t last long and then are in a worse place than they would have been if they took a gap year (low gpa, NCAA eligibility begins to run, maybe some student loans).

5

He says he does. That’s all I can go on right now. He’s a junior and needs to figure that out this year. At the moment, I just need to give him some advice on what coaches to approach and schools to look at. If CC is the best route, then we’ll help him visit some of those so he can start to get an idea of what he really wants to do. If DII is possible (I assumed that actually getting a full-ride was remote), then we’ll help him contact those coaches and see if he can get organized enough to get his grades in order 2nd semester.

Note it’s possible he’ll decide to go to CC and not play soccer. It’s possible he’ll decide to go to work and not pursue college. I’m not really trying to figure all that out for him. Just want to give him some realistic advice about paying for school and getting in. I’m not going to be pushing him one way or another.

6

Good suggestion about D2, as they give athletic awards and are often (not always) less competitive admissions and the soccer teams often carry a strong international presence. Since we are a soccer family, I took a quick look, and St Martin’s University, in Olympia area, has student stats that might work – bottom 25% SAT is under 900. It is a Benedictine school. There is also Northwest University, which is an NAIA school, Lutheran, though I could not quickly find admissions stats. A recruiting site said the required SAT is 860, with a 3.0.

7

What kind of job does he have now? Is it something that can readily lead to something better? Are there any apprenticeship programs that could work for him? What kind of Tech Ed is available at his high school?

For students who are still working on learning English (and he probably is if it isn’t spoken all the time at home and/or his parents have low literacy skills), it can be hard to tell whether their academic issues are from just that or from a learning disability. Also a kid from a refugee family may not be getting enough sleep because of the combined stresses of school, work, and being the translator for the family.

This kid is in a tough situation. Thanks for stepping in and giving a helping hand!

8

I tried the NPCs of three WA publics (not University of Washington - Seattle), and they all came up with numbers between $10,000 and $12,000 (WA resident, living on campus, income/assets/EFC = $0). With a $5,500 federal loan, that would mean needing $4,500 to $6,500 of student work earnings, which would be pretty stretchy.

Net price for a community college while living at home would be less; starting at a community college could allow taking the the federal loans and saving it to help cover some of the costs after transferring to a university after two years. He needs to get better at doing assignments consistently to do well in college, but if he does, a better college record could help him transfer to a greater choice of universities than his high school record could get him into as a frosh.

If he gets an athletic scholarship, that may help, but it may also reduce the time available to work for pay to help pay for school.

9

Community colleges have varsity soccer teams. Is he within driving distance to
Clark College
South Puget Sound CC
Pierce College
Peninsula College
Skagit Valley College
?
Students have to prove themselves on the field and in the classroom in order to move on to D1/D2 universities.

10

It seems best to separate the soccer from the school question. He can join a local community league and play all the soccer he wants for very little cost, while he is either working or attending a local community college. It sounds like he has Neither the academic preparation nor the resources for other college now.

11

Thanks for all the advice/thoughts. A little more background.

Re questions about fluency and homework: He’s worked at another familys house (friends of ours) after school since he’s been going to school (since 3rd grade or so). But he’d never been in school before that, however, since well that wasn’t an option in the refugee camp they were in for many years. But he’s a sharp guy, and actually he gets A/Bs in his LA classes (history, english) and Spanish—with enough oversight to get his homework. He does his homework (usually); it’s the turning it in part that took a dive in junior year, and then he got behind and didn’t want to tell anyone, and then well now he’s got a 2.3 in his academic classes.

@happymom1 His job is at a senior center. I suspect that he could progress in that. I think actually a job in some type of health services might suit him. Who knows. He’s 16. But let’s just say that I can see him in construction, say. Re low testing being from learning issues or being ESL. Yes it’s hard to say. I doubt that his mom ever went to school (any school). Not really something provided to girls where she was. She is an incredible person who overcame impossible odds and hardship to save her sons, but everything about school is a foreign to her. So the American ‘hosts’, help the family with all that part.

Re TechEd at his school. I’ll look into that.

@roycroftmom Well he wants to play soccer in college. So for moment at least, we’re going with that for now. We had the ‘reality’ check talk this week about his grades. We’ll see what happens in semester 2. He didn’t have a much oversight in junior year since the family that did that was busier and traveling a lot. Our family may need to take that on somehow. The other family is the one that did all the paperwork and such to act as ‘surrogates’ to take care of school paperwork, so it’s not super simple for us to track his tardies. But I think that needs to happen again. He doesn’t want to get up an hour earlier to catch the bus that gets him to school on time. Prefers the one that gets him there 5min ahead, but it’s late 1/2 the time which means he’s late for 1st period half the time. Surprise, surprise that’s the class he’s getting a D in (Honors math–we did try to talk him out of that but math had been a strong class for him and wanted to do honors).

Also his older brother is at university on a full-ride (DI athletics). And he does see himself going to college. His brother was more lackadaisical in his HS academics but did manage to get his act together at the end (and after a year at CC), so I’m hopeful. His brother is doing fine at university–but he also gets a lot of support as an athlete.

@MYOS1634 He doesn’t have a car and I can’t see him getting one anytime soon. However N-S transit in SEATAC region is good.

BTW, I will also meet with his GC but right now, I need to find out more regarding options for him. If he gets his grades up, the question is whether DII schools give enough for someone with 0 resources to attend. My H was in a similar situation and went to a state directional, but when he went to university (30 yrs ago) he was able to work 1/4 time and summers and pay his way. I’m not sure that’s a possibility now. Seems like you have to be able to live at home to make that work.

12

Do you have any evidence that his soccer talent is sufficient for a D2 or 3 school? I understand he would like to play. Many do. It is highly competitive, and if he is already a junior there should be some objective assessment of his talent level .

13

Re: his struggles with reading and remembering to turn in assignments

If the parents request it from the high school in writing, the school must to an IEP evaluation within 30 days. It won’t be as good as what a private educational psychologist would do, but it could point you in the direction of possible learning differences and accomodations for the SAT. If there’s a chance of ADD, then talking to the family doctor about ADD meds might be in order. (The school will not diagnose ADD or dyslexia, they will only say that certain skills are at such and such percentile. Only a doctor can make a medical diagnosis.)

It’s pretty obvious, but a kid who doesn’t read well should also have an eye exam focused on reading problems (eye tracking skills, etc).

This kid will likely be going to community or technical college. Take him to a CC soccer game and check it out. As @roycroftmom notes, soccer can be a very competitive sport, so talk to the high school coach about what might be realistic. There are schools with intramural sports programs where he could at least play for fun, or look into a city league in the same town as the CC. Since he’s not academically strong, a two year career program at a CC might be a better goal than a four year degree.

State need-based aid is first-come, first serve, and like all of education it’s underfunded. Look at readysetgrad.org for information. The big question is whether he signed up for Washington College Bound in 7th or 8th grade. It’s too late now, and it’s the big source of funds for low income kids.

The Washington scholarship portal is at washboard.org – start exploring if anything there applies to him.

14

What’s he going to do once he gets to college? Will all of the the same people still be supporting him? Will he still be asking for rides because he won’t be driving?

It seems to me that a lot of people are jumping through hoops for this kid,
who doesn’t want to get up early
who wants to go to college like his brother
who doesn’t wanna tell when he gets behind
who may or may not have a learning disability.

Where is the intrinsic motivation?

To me, it seems that everyone else is trying to help this kid, except the most important person, who should be helping: himself.

About 15 years ago I had to help a student from the Philippines with a cleft palate.

This kid was learning English, taking hard subjects, working a part-time job and was just a very motivated student.
I met with him an hour before school, to work on his speech productions, and then he would reappear after school to show me that he had been practicing during the day.
He had been told by other students that he could go to a community college.
Neither he nor his family knew how to navigate college system.

When the guidance counselor and I looked at his coursework and his grades, we realized that he was eligible to apply for UC and CSU’s. I would see him running into the counseling office repeatedly.

I ran into him and his mother a few years after. When he got to his college he was very well-known and accessed all of the services on his own. It took him three years to graduate from his college. The last I heard he was successfully working as a software engineer.

It just doesn’t sound like this student is intrinsically motivated, but the people around him are? So I’m confused.

15

I agree that if he does the work but systematically forgets to turn it in, it can be a warning sign for executive functioning issues or add.
Also, checking eyesight (when was the last time he got an eye exam?)
If none of the CC’s with varsity soccer preparing for D1 schools are nearby, that’s an issue.
D2 schools are allowed to complement scholarships with academic scholarships but he wouldn’t qualify.

16

@MYOS1634 D2 schools are not allowed to complement scholarships with need based aid?

17

@AroundHere Thanks for the info re Washington College Bound. I’ll check if he signed up for that. It is entirely possible he did. I’ll get on the washboard.org site with him, and see if anything applies.

I agree that he is likely headed to a community college or technical. That seems like a good option and leads into good job options down the road. I still need to get a better sense of the finance part for that.

@MYOS1634 I’ll add ‘understanding better how D2 can stack aid’ to my to-do list.

Re questions about whether he could play at D3 or D2 schools. He has played club soccer since age 11 and our club sends many players to D3 and D2 schools. The seniors on the team are in discussions with local D3 coaches. He is a far more skilled player than the seniors. I’ll have a sit-down with him and his coach to get an assessment too.

18

Have him prep for tests since his GPA is low and he’ll thus require higher scores than with a higher GPA (sliding scale). Act has accomodations for ell now (native language dictionary allowed). See with gc.

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@MYOS1634 Yes we have test prep planned for summer and will look into whether his school (or other programs) offer free test prep classes.

Thanks for the info re support on ACT for ELL. The native language dictionary won’t help him since he never went to school in his native language (wasn’t possible), but the support also includes extra time and testing in a non-distracting environment. Those 2 will be a big help. He reads well but slower.