<p>D3 athletes do not receive athletic scholarships so what impact does being a D3 recruited athlete have on merit aid? Do D3 athletes receive more merit aid than traditional students?
(Also assuming parents can pay COA) Thanks.</p>
<p>merit aid is awarded based on academic/community service/leadership qualities.
You may receive merit $, and be accepted as an athlete, but none of that award would be atttributed based on your athletic abilities.
D2, D1, different story.</p>
<p>While you “technically” can not get athletic $ we strongly believe our D parlayed her strong athletic ability in to merit aid at a DIII school that is a perennial powerhouse in her sport of choice. She is a good student but not a top student as I mentioned in previous post. She recieved several strong merit and “community involvement” offers from different colleges. Call it what you will…if you are recruitable and the coach wants you they will find a way to help. I would like to point out that D1 is currently a Dean’s List student so not an academic slouch! ;)</p>
<p>I agree with North Minnesota, i knew one kid who got a half scholarship to a very competitive d3 school for a “leadership” scholarship. The reason explained was because of his leadership abilities as shown by being captain on his high school soccer team. He didn’t do any other extra curriculars. Seems to me that he would not have been competitive for that scholarship if he wasn’t being highly recruited by this school.</p>
<p>absolutely agree with NM and Patriot. My daughter has several friends who have gone DIII and were told by the coach that based on their recruitability, merit aid would be forthcoming. They are all good students to begin with, but any extra you can add to enhance yourself as an admissions candidate makes you m ore desirable.</p>
<p>Giving D3 merit aid based in whole or in part on athletic ability is outright cheating, but some schools cheat. Most often it is at less selective schools, but I’m pretty certain that it happens at at least one UAA school.</p>
<p>So where does “community involvement” or "leadership " scholarships fall? Not merit, not athletic. There is always wiggle room and not classified as merit so not cheating. D1 ws recruited by some very selective DIII colleges and her academic credentials were good, just not CC great. Some merit scholarships do not list exact qualifications.</p>
<p>Division III rules explicitly prohibit the consideration of athletic ability in deciding whether to provide financial aid. Thus, any such consideration is cheating. Period.</p>
<p>The rules do not prohibit the consideration of athletic ability in making admissions decisions, nor do they prohibit consideration of community involvement and leadership in merit scholarship.</p>
<p>While D3 rules prohibit it, when my son was going through the process, there were definitely signs that coaches had major influence on merit aid. For example, one coach said “When you get your merit package please let us know if it is ok. If it isn’t what it needs to be, we can get it adjusted.”</p>
<p>Call it what you will… DIII athletes DO receive aid, whether for being leaders, involved in community activities or receiving scholarships for being well rounded students. These scholarships just aren’t labeled as merit aid. The reality is student athletes with good to great academic credentials can get extra $$$ for college costs.</p>
<p>Girl sport example of what happened again, just a two student example in a Div 1 school.
My d not an athlete, but a family friends D is. Both applied to the same school, academically, straight down the line were equals. SAT/gradesGPA/challenging courses 8 APs . Our D received a higher merit award than friends D who was a Div 1 athlete. Both families perplexed of the outcome, she was heavily recruited by school. The award was roughly $4k difference. They wouldn’t budge on the amount. MyD was a science/engineering applicant, other girl was liberal arts.</p>
<p>“Division III rules explicitly prohibit the consideration of athletic ability in deciding whether to provide financial aid. Thus, any such consideration is cheating. Period”</p>
<p>Maybe…but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. A 4.0 student is not as valuable to the community as a 3.5 student who is necessary for the success of a team - particularly if the school already has a glut of 4.0 students.</p>
<p>samiamy…DI is another story.</p>
<p>I find that surprising though…my d is a DI athlete and the coaches encourages the girls to apply for merit to cover what wasn’t covered by the athletic scholarship.</p>
<p>well when my friend and I discovered the difference in award her d approached the school, by that time they said all $$ was gone, but, perhaps they knew the girl had made up her mind to attend and either way she was going. </p>
<p>yes I know Div 1 is different, just thought I would put it out there and what does go on.</p>
<p>Our D2 also will be playing DI this fall. She will receive both athletic and merit but coach had nothing to do with merit aid.</p>