<p>Our story is similar to what others have posted. What people need to understand about merit or athletic scholarships is that if a school wants you badly enough to give you a free ride or a lot of money, that is probably because you are in the statosphere compared to the students and athletes they normally attract. Some people might not mind that situation, but my kids were of the opinion that if they had spent years and years slaving away in advanced classes and/or slaving away to excel in their sport, then they had no intention of now attending a school they could have gotten into with an SAT score half of what they had, no AP and honors classes, and lesser athletic stats. </p>
<p>My D, who was Ivy caliber in academics and pretty highly ranked nationally in her sport, could have gotten a free ride to the mediocre state flagship (to which my son was offered a full ride too and without sports), and to other to mid-tier schools. These school were also much less competitive in the sport. The coaches at schools like Duke promised D athletic money in her 3rd and 4th years, but there were no guarantees of that ever panning out despite the coach’s good intentions in offering. The financial aid at Ivies and Ivy peer schools was good enough such that it beat out athletic or combined offers from places like Duke, even assuming a full athletic ride for the 3rd and 4th years.</p>
<p>So our D chose good financial aid at a top school with top athletics rather than a free ride or near free ride at a less competitive school with lower level athletics. She has acquaintances in the sport who were as good or almost as good as she was who went to schools like the Univ. of Richmond and Syracuse and supposedly got very attractive packages.</p>
<p>*In baseball, to name one example, the NCAA D1 rules allow a roster size of 35. Rules further limit the players receiving any athletic scholarship support to 27. Each player who receives any aid at all must receive at least 1/4 scholarship equivalent. If a team has a full roster, they by definition have at least eight non-scholarship players. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Do schools ever get around this by identifying 8 students who have very low EFCs and then giving them “need based aid” to save the athletic scholarships for the others?</p>
<p>*Head-count sports represent a VERY small minority of sports:</p>
<p>Basketball 13 for men, 15 for women
Football 85, with an additional limit of 25 initial counters per year
*</p>
<p>To my knowledge, the biggest issue is the travel. Keep in mind that the athletes miss actual classes. Some professors will be accomodating. Some not so much. Maybe your student-athlete had another experience? I’d love to hear about it, if so. It’s not what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>My high school student athlete goes to school from 720 am to 315 each day and has practice for her club sport from 7-930, nowhere near our house, three times a week, and she is being heavily pressured by the school to play for the school program, but I don’t think she should. It’s too much, imo.</p>
<p>“Playing a D-1 sport is a BIG PLUS on the resume. Also those who prove their worth do get put on scholarship later. They call them invited walk-ons at my school. Every year several get scholarships.”</p>
<p>Not to someone like me, who doesn’t see sports as any better or worse than any other EC, and wouldn’t know what schools are Div I in the first place. </p>
<p>Besides, if someone indicates they played a sport in college, how would you know if they had a scholarship anyway? Without asking, of course.</p>
<p>Absolutely, but that is not really ‘getting around’ the ncaa policy. Obviously, every admitted student who is poor is eligible for need-based aid at that college. As long as the need-based aid package given to the athlete is no different than the aid offered to any other student in that income category…</p>
<p>An initial counter is a student-athlete who obtains financial aid for the first time. Counter is simply a countable student-athlete. </p>
<p>Remember that the NCAA might very stand for THE NATIONAL COUNTERS ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION since all they seemingly do is counting. Too bad they are not that great in keeping the frauds out of the FBS. </p>
<p>I suppose it depends on how many class days must be missed for travel. If it is just Fridays, many college students don’t have class on Fridays anyway. If it includes Thursday, then most likely the athlete will be missing only two classes and probably not any exams, as exams are usually given only at the end of the semester. This is in contrast to high school life, where missing one day of school can mean missing 6 classes and numerous tests that must be made up.</p>
<p>I imagine that most college athletes are counseled (or can figure out themselves) that they need to select classes that work with their practice and travel schedules. There will undoubtedly be a couple of required courses that will pose problems over the 4-year period.</p>
<p>Sure. All the Ivies except Harvard and Princeton have either EA or ED, so many spots have been offered including some for recruited athletes. </p>
<p>Officially none of the Ivies offer RD spots until April 1st, but many, including Harvard, will give likely letters (which are pretty much a lock) to highly-desirable applicants, which, of course, will include some athletes.</p>
<p>Another thing to remember is that at most colleges, sports scholarships are issued on a contingency basis; that is, it’s the school’s discretion to determine whether or not to renew the award in the ensuing years. Moreover, a school can reneg on its offer with no liability. It’s a little known fact that at many colleges, a coach may terminate a scholarship for any reason. At times the decision has little to do with an individual’s athletic performance (face it, most kids sit on the bench). Nor is a personal conduct issue always involved. Such a decision created a bit of a controversy years ago in the UMaryland-College Park basketball program, wherein the coach (not Lefty Dreisell) forced a little-used player to give up a scholarship because the just-hired coach wanted to recruit somebody else. The whole issue of recruiting and scholarhips was the subject of a fantastic debate on ESPN’s ‘Outside the Lines’ program in a lively discussion between commentators Billy Packer and Dick Vitale. Packer essentially called the system corrupt and unfair to student-athletes and their families.</p>
<p>I continue to think that missing classes due to significant travel for something as inconsequential and un-academic as hitting or kicking a ball around is a crime, and not at all what I would ever want for my children in a college experience. It puts professors in a terrible bind – they are there to teach, not to work around athletic schedules.</p>
<p>Well, yes, that and it puts the kid in a horrible position, as well, frankly.</p>
<p>I have one who is definitely D1 material, but has not, up until this year, been anything near what I would consider to be a “student.” Bright, yes, but academic? No. I was fine with this. She’s never seemed anything but happy and productive and well-adjusted. I was never concerned about her getting a “higher” education. I figured she would go to college in order to continue to play her sport. She actually said, up until this year, “I wouldn’t even go to school unless I could keep playing.” </p>
<p>So, to me, it seemed like it would be a fine trade-off.</p>
<p>Now, though, she is suddenly this “student” right before my eyes, all on her own initiative. Suddenly she is saying, “So and so says that they have to miss so many classes at fill-in-the-blank university. I wonder if I would be able to do that and still get good grades?” Which, I don’t actually even know the answer to her question.</p>
<p>I say, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. You might have to choose, but you might not. I have no answer.”</p>
<p>A lot of kids can do it, but I wonder how many cannot. Especially in the major they actually “want.” I wish the games were only on weekends. fwiw.</p>
<p>My nieces and nephew are all D1 recruited athletes - my nieces getting full scholarships at a sport, my nephew at an Ivy so no scholarship. As they were growing up, they had things like practices and meets on Thanksgiving day. It was ridiculous, insane, and over the top, and I think it’s a poor reflection of the outsize influence of sports that it couldn’t have been kept to fun, let’s-all-get-some-exercise. My D was a varsity athlete and wants to play intramurals at her college. I think that’s terrific. That’s exactly where sports should be, IMO - let’s go enjoy the fresh air, get some activity, meet new people, and have fun. If the over-the-top micromanagement of the “Chinese parenting” thread is one extreme, I think college sports as many colleges have it set up is the other extreme.</p>
<p>poetgrl,
It would be impossible to make a blanket statement about how all D1 athletes fare at every D1 college, so your best bet is to research the grad rates of the players in the sport at the colleges your D is interested in, and when it comes time, have her ask the coach and other players about their experiences and ability to choose the majors they desire. I think you will probably find a wide range of responses depending on the college.</p>
<p>Thanks, Bay. I really think that is the best way to go. It’s an entirely “new” situation, so is taking some adjustment. I will actually pass that piece of advice along to her.</p>
<p>PG- the problem with a kid like my daughter playing intrumural sports is it’s not really very “fun” for her. It’s kind of like asking the math genius to sit in on the remedial math courses. snore.</p>
<p>As a college prof, as well as the parent of a recruited athlete, I can say that it really isn’t too much trouble to work with the athletes. For the most part, the athletes are hardworking and disciplined and good about letting me know when they will be absent and, if it conflicts with an assignment, they are usually good about working it out with me how to make it up. It’s not like the athletes are especially unusual in this respect; I’ve had to work around choir trips, ROTC events, National Guard events, honors program events, to name a few organized events, and even times when the boss made a student come in to work even though he or she wasn’t scheduled to (I would hate for a student to lose their job over this).</p>
<p>Most of these student-athletes have made their choice to participate, and it’s not unusual to have students quit the team because they didn’t realize now serious it would be at the college level, or time-consuming, etc. The students who remain really do love it, and enjoy playing at that level and representing their school.</p>
<p>In my experience, the most difficult students to work with, who act the most entitled, are not the athletes but the students in the university honors program.</p>
. . .I was going to add that a professor’s job is to teach all of the university’s students, including those who are participating in university sanctioned activities like athletics. A professor who puts his own needs above those of his students is one I hope my kids avoid.</p>
<p>@skrlvr, thank you for your insight and for putting athletics in the same light as many other activities. For some reason, people seem to forget that there are many other activities that can conflict with a student’s schedule. Some parents seem to think it is fine for students to spend countless hours on their musical talents or speaking talents or writing talents or whatever talents, but look down on students who pursue their athletic talents. My daughter has always put her academics first, but her commitment to her sport has been a very close second. I believe this has taught her many things that will serve her very well in college, not the least of which is communication, which I have observed to me a problem with many students.</p>
<p>As far as missing classes for travel, I think a lot depends on the sport, but in my daughter’s sport, DI rowing, the classes missed are minimal. Travel is usually Thursday evening or later and they are back by Monday morning. The team has an academic advisor who helps with their schedules to ensure that there is minimal disruption to their classes for travel, ie. no classes on Friday.</p>