Athletic scholarship combining with merit

My daughter is a high school junior. She is being recruited for an athletic scholarship (acro/tumbling). She had a coach tell her today that she would not qualify by the NCAA rules to combine an academic and merit scholarship. This seems like information contrary to what I am finding online. She has a 25 ACT (1190 SAT) 3.86 GPA, and in the top 14% of her graduating class. Does anyone have any info they can share on this? We aren’t so concerned about this school but she is extremely concerned about another division 1 school and if this info is true not being able to combine money there. Help please!!!

@twoinanddone

Your thoughts?

To the OP…how much merit aid were you expecting with a 1190 SAT score? At many schools this would not make a student in the running for any merit aid.

We have been told she would receive $13,000 a year in merit aid.

Is this merit that is offered to regular students that have her stats, too?

Yes it is, I should have mentioned that. I’m sorry, that is helpful info.

Hoping @twoinanddone sees this and replies.

She is knowledgeable about NCAA rules.

How much does this school cost? Does the student also get any other aid? State aid? Fed aid?

The school costs approximately $55,000/year and she would not be eligible for any need based money. Merit or athletic only.

http://diycollegerankings.com/can-college-athletes-receive-athletic-academic-scholarships/6267/

I didn’t even know about these requirements when my daughter was applying because someone in compliance took care of it, and she met all three tests for receiving merit and athletic aid. Before my daughter met with the coach she’d sent in her transcripts and scores, the coach had sent them through admissions, and admissions had said what merit D would be likely to get. All the coach did was relay the info (and it was wrong but I fixed it with admissions, not with the coach).

A school can limit the awards any way they want, and some do limit how much total aid can come from the school. I don’t agree with that coach’s reading of the NCAA rules, as your daughter does meet the 3.5 gpa, but she doesn’t meet the top 10% requirement or the test score requirement. It says she needs to meet one of the 3, but this school could require 2 or all 3 to get a merit scholarship and athletic. Schools can set stricter rules. If you are still interested in this school, ask the coach for the NCAA rule about this and what you can do. If it is as simple as getting a higher test score, take the tests again. And again. If she needs to be in the top 10% of her graduating class, that’s a harder thing to achieve because she’ll have to do better and others will have to slip a little. It also may be as simple as the coach not realizing your daughter does have above a 3.5; he might just have read her gpa wrong.

Because one school said they won’t combine merit and athletics doesn’t mean another school won’t if the athlete meets the NCAA’s requirement and the school’s own merit requirements for all students, not just athletes…

There is no way to know the policy at a school until you ask and they are all quite secretive about the team funding, the other awards, total budget. The kids all find out how much each other player is getting and there are very hard feelings about it. Schools have specific financial aid officers for athletes because it is pretty complicated reporting. Big D1 schools might have several compliance officers and several finance officers.

Thank you so much! Your response was exactly the understanding I had (and her professional recruiter as well). She did ask the coach to please point her in the direction of the NCAA rule that states what she said it did ( in a polite fashion). It’s not a problem for this school as I stated, she’s not interested in attending, but I just wanted to anticipate if it would be an issue going forward with other schools. She will have to ask the school she is actually interested in what their individual rules are. She will move up in class rankings again this semester as she will be getting a 4.4 this semester but not up 20 spots to be in the top 10%. Smart girl just not much of a standardized test taker obviously

Have her keep prepping and taking the tests. Did she try the ACT?

Yes, she took the ACT and got a 25. She’s taken it 3 times and gotten the exact same score every time even after taking a Kaplan course