Combining Athletic and Academic $$$

<p>D2 is getting full tuition plus in an athletic scholarship. Based on school info/charts her academic stats are in the top % of accepted students at this OOS public. She has also applied for merit aid. Was wondering if her athletic scholarship could hamper her merit aid??? Someone mentioned to me that the OOS school might feel she already has enough of the OOS funds. What do you think?</p>

<p>If the aid is tagged as athletic, then this is a D1 or D2 school, right?
Basically, if that's the case, then you need to talk to the fin aid office because athletic scholarships are not guaranteed each year, but academic may or may not be (depends on school and nature of award).<br>
I think you need to be upfront with the coach and the fin aid office so there's no surprises for anyone.</p>

<p>Yes, DI. We are pleased with the athletic scholarship.She has not heard about merit aid yet. What I am asking, however, is do you think that by receiving athletic money will the university not be as generous in awarding merit aid or even not awarding any at all. I was wondering how many DI athletes combine athletic and merit aid especially at OOS schools. Sorry for being unclear.</p>

<p>Hopefully someone with D1 experience will chime in on this one. I think you should assume that it will be either one or the other, but you should negotiate as much as possible. Do you have an offer from another school so you have some leverage?</p>

<p>It is my understanding that a school will meet demonstrated need and I also believe that any other aid/awards/scholarships are taken into account of the whole. So, if a kid is getting half of tuition in Athletic Scholarship, than only the other half of tuition and room and board are up for financing. Here's the thing... They know they have your D since she applied and was accepted Early Decision, plus she signed a commitment. And like any merit aid, I think they give it to the people the want to see attend the school who might be swayed to go elsewhere. This is not to say they won't give you merit aid (as some schools have automatic qualifiers for certain grant opportunities for Academic merit). But seeing that OOS schools can rival the tuition of privates, I think it would be perfectly acceptable to call financial aid and ask point blank. It's a pretty straight forward question as worded above.</p>

<p>My daughter's teammate (DI, state university) is an OOS student on a full athletic scholarship (which, at their school does not cover books or incidentals). The coach suggested to the mom that they apply for some of the merit scholarships to cover the rest of this. He also suggested that if they get additional merit money, it could be used to defray some of the athletic scholarship cost for the team as it is more expensive for an OOS student.</p>

<p>Woohoo! The letter came in the mail today and it was good news! The University's merit aid offer is enough to cover the rest of COA so we are thrilled! What a nice surprise since we don't qualify for any FA!</p>

<p>I'm confused; I understood your first post to imply that your daughter had already received a full ride athletic scholarship. Were you saying the athletic money covered just tuition, not room and board? Or were you saying that the athletic scholarship only covered the amount as if she were an in-state student? Just curious because my son will be looking at out of state DI schools, and I am wondering how it works when combining merit aid, need-based aid (we will qualify), and athletic scholarships. I'm pretty certain he won't receive a full ride because the scholarships are generally broken up in his sport.</p>

<p>Sorry for the confusion. Her athletic is for full tuition plus (books, fees, partial R & B) but not quite full COA. The academic now will cover everything when combined with the athletic! We are thrilled!</p>

<p>Thank you for the clarification and...congratulations!</p>

<p>Wow, NorthMinnesota! Congratulations! Starts to make the years of practice, travel, injuries, etc., look worthwhile :)</p>

<p>Thanks riverrunner! Now I have another question. D2 has made it to semi-finalist for another independent merit scholarship (not from her university). If she gets it the scholarship is for 4 years and would be over the limit she can get for NCAA regulations because of athletic and merit from university. What would you do...cut the university aid and accept outside scholarship that has no strings attached or decline it and just keep university $$$?</p>

<p>I would keep the no strings attached money. Athletic and other financial aid from universities is usually granted on a year to year basis. If your daughter can get a guaranteed amount for all four years, she should take it.</p>

<p>absolutely in all cases choose merit scholarships over athletic - you are only 1 injury away from loosing athletic money! unless D is bound for Olympics or cannot maintain GPA required for merit scholarship</p>

<p>Also does anyone know how athlete/scholar scholarships like SAMMY/Wendys HS Heisman are handled? Are they treated fully as "athletic" scholarships which offset the coaches NCAA defined scholarship numbers/budget? ie if you are a good athlete but he would rather give/spread his own scholarship money than have your $7500 SAMMY amt affect the whole team? Someone must know how this works for D1 teams.</p>

<p>
[quote]
absolutely in all cases choose merit scholarships over athletic - you are only 1 injury away from loosing athletic money! unless D is bound for Olympics or cannot maintain GPA required for merit scholarship

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Not correct. Yes, all athletic scholarships are awareded on an annual basis with no guarantee of renewal. That being said, any coach who cuts the scholarship of a player who is injured (either in participation or in training) will have an impossible time recruiting going forward. I've had this conversation with several coaches and ex-coaches. Now if you go out and wrap your car around a tree after a few beers, you are more than likely to not only lose your scholarship, but also get kicked out of the school as well.</p>

<p>Every athlete we know who was injured during college sport has always had scholarship renewed. In fact I know a player who has torn ACL twice and school is now renewing for a fifth year of school.</p>

<p>Need to research a little more for exact phrasing of NCAA rules and accepting outside merit aid.</p>

<p>Momasita...do you have an athlete applying for SAMMY?</p>

<p>Momasita: Look at section 15 of NCAA rules. Appears that accepting the scholarship is fine as long as athlete/student does not exceed COA of school.
<a href="http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/Division_1_Manual_2008-09e9e568a1-c269-4423-9ca5-16d6827c16bc.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/Division_1_Manual_2008-09e9e568a1-c269-4423-9ca5-16d6827c16bc.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Momasita...I think I misread your post! Hmmm...don't know about it affecting team allottment of $$$! Anyone???</p>

<p>If the money does not come from the athletic department/university, then it should not affect the team's scholarship allotment per NCAA rules. If it did, then kids on federally funded, need-based financial aid would be counting against it as well and I do not think that is happening. The above post regarding injured athletes is correct: USUALLY, coaches do not take away scholarships because it will hurt recruiting; however, when coaching changes occur there can sometimes be pressure on an athlete to transfer and everyone blames it on the old coach. In any case, there are more than a few athletes who decide not to compete for one reason or another so if they do not need the scholarship in order to attend the college, they will be free to quit if they choose to do so. Whatever gives your child the most options is probably the best idea. The NCAA has great people at their 800 number hotline. They will answer your questions about anything to do with compliance and NCAA rules. You do not have to identify yourself when you call.</p>