D3 sports and financial aid potential

I know D3 can not technically give out athletic scholarships. But I keep hearing that they can give extra financial aid to help encourage the student to attend the school, I am just wondering if any D3 students or parents have been in this situation and if this is really the case? And is it a decent amount? My child should already be receiving a Merit one she has great grades and test scores. Thanks in advance!!!

They cannot receive any need-based aid beyond what any other student will receive, based on their FAFSA and CSS if applicable.
They also cannot receive merit based aid beyond what any non-athlete would receive. Schools need to be very careful about this. They cannot give out additional merit aid to a student just because they are an athlete. If merit aid is important you should focus your options on schools where your child will qualify for significant merit add based on non-athletic criteria.

The problem with recruited D3 athletes, most coaches want you to apply ED if you want their support. The school knows you are committed, there is little incentive to offer much merit for you to attend. And as others have said, whatever they offer you has to be in line with what they offer other applicants.

There is no hidden money for D3 athletes – they get the same need based and merit based aid as their peers. Like D1 schools, D3 schools can get sanctioned for violations of NCAA rules. In my D3 athlete kid’s process, we ran across one school where several seasons of wins were stripped from a program, plus various mandatory training programs put in place, because a recently hired assistant coach mentioned to one recruited athlete’s family that there could be extra financial aid for the athlete because of his status.

Schools may do financial aid as well as admissions pre-read for recruited athletes, on top of the info provided by the NPC. In our experience, admissions and coaches typically gave a minimum merit award they thought my kid would get based on his academic portfolio, usually mentioned at the end of admissions interviews and close to final meetings with coaches. They always framed it as there were no guarantees but based on his transcript, academic resume etc., they felt comfortable with a prediction.

Some schools do use merit generously in the ED round, we found schools to be pretty transparent when asked specifically about their practices.

You can get a financial preread from the schools in addition to admissions. I assume it includes any merit the student would be entitled to including FA.

My D19 athlete is now in at 4 mid-level D3 schools. None required or requested an admissions pre-read and all came in with merit offers almost exactly as predicted on the NPC. Basically, she would have had the same results without the athletic hook.

Browse thru this forum and you will get an understanding.
It all depends on the students grades/scores, type of school and how difficult it is to get into. The easier the school is to get into, typically the more “merit” they offer to help compete with the top end academic schools. IMO, that is one method some schools use to attract students and athletes. They offer a discount off of their full list price to compete and it can be a good selling point as it can make a school a good fit economically.
Some parents will want you to think that their kid is getting athletic money based on their sport disguised as merit or financial aid but that is most likely not the case and in my opinion is greatly exaggerated by parents.
The very top end academic and difficult to get into schools, like the NESCAC schools, offer little or No Merit, many are all need based. Same as the Ivy Leagues.
What the top end academic Div. 3 schools and coaches may be able to offer is they can get an athlete in that would not get in on their own via a slot. The # of slots varies depending on the sport and school/league rules. This is true as I have a child athlete in this situation now for schools they could not get accepted too without being recruited.
I also had a child attend a top end Ivy as a recruited athlete. In that case they also had the grades and test scores to get in and was a top tier athlete in their sport so they were highly recruited by the Ivies and similar D1 Schools. Ivy all need based, not merit or athletic.
Good luck to you and your child with their college search-enjoy!
Note: probably stating the obvious, but make sure the school is picked for reasons other than athletics. I have personally seen athletes/students and especially parents get caught up in the recruiting process, particularly for D2 schools that can give athletic dollars and the school ended up not being a good fit and the student transfers or they do not have the best college experience.

Tough to know, since merit is labeled merit. How does one know if you would have gotten same merit without being a recruited athlete? That said, my son got more merit from his D3 than I expected. He did have other very relevant EC in high school besides his sport, but avg grades for his college. He certainly did not get an outsized scholarship, no better than typical high achieving students, but his achievements were more well rounded than others with similar merit.

There is the chance that a student got more merit because he was the top athlete, but overall, the NCAA does look at the statistics for the school. At one school in the NYC area, the NCAA dinged them because the athletes had more work study than other students with similar financial need. Could the school have gotten away with giving extra financial aid or merit aid to one or two athletes? Yes, but once it starts doing it to too many athletes, the NCAA (or other teams in the conference) takes note and the school has to justify the aid. The NY school didn’t even give money to the athletes, just work study opportunities. I think the athletes also got to live in nicer dorms.

Apologies ahead of time, for the long post. I am in the process and have learned A LOT OF MY ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT SCHOLARSHIP VS NON SCHOLARSHIP AND D3 VS D2/D1 WERE MISGUIDED. As I’ll explain below, some schools are that way, because frankly they dont really need to offer scholarships to land enough top tier recruits to be competitive (did not say elite).

I agree with the comment regarding non scholarship FCS and elite D3 schools offering access to schools that a recruited athlete would a much lower chance for acceptance as a non athlete. That being said, it also falls in line with the schools endowment. If a school has a strong endowmwnet there may be multiple scholarship avenues through non academic specialty scholarships (i.e. service, leadership, etc.) These are available to non recruited athletes, but if a recruted athlete can be awarded one of these it is a bonus for the school and the athlete. For example, by rule FCS and D2 football schools dont have enough athletic scholarships to fully fund an 85 man football roster. They split these out over several athletes. Instead of a full ride, a recruited athlete may get 25 -75% of tuition via athletic funding. It also depends on position. A highly touted QB, OL or DE is usually in short demand so they may get 75-100% of finaicial need met via athletic scholarship. Conversely, a WR, RB, DB or LB may gety only 10-40% of their financial need (unless they are incredible), becuase they can convert “athletes” to those spots. There are simply more of them.

So, A D3, D2 or non scholarship FCS school with a large endowment and strong academic pedigree may be able to offer a non athletic specialty scholarship (available to the student body as well) or finaincial aid package to a recruited athlete that is actually better than a typical athletic scholarship. Better yet for the student, if he/she is injured or loses interest that scholarship is not based on the sport, but the “student” in “student athlete”.

This is one factor in how high academic and well known D3 and non (or low) scholarship FCS programs are successful and often take regional top athletes one would think a scholarship school would typically land. I remember being told that many non power-5 FBS, FCS, and D2 football programs offer athletic scholaships becuase without them recruiting would be near impossible based on the schools academic pedgree, name recognition or overall desirability. Conversly, NESCAC, IVY league, high academic D3 schools and higher end Pioneer League schools (Davidson, Butler, Marist, U. San Diego) have significant of D1 quality athletes sprinkled on the roster via finacial packages or non athletic scholarships better than what a tyipcal scholarship team might have.

Keep in mind though, we are talking about niche athletes and the coaches have to put in work to find/recruit them. Serious athletes (esp. big roster sports like football, lacrosse and hockey) meeting the academic standards of those schools are hard to find and are typically the kinds of sudents that would qualify for the same scholarships if they were non-athletes. The all around better the school (typically) the more they can offer finanacially, academically and the better the athlete they can bring in. This is partially how an Ivy can compete with a non-Ivy; a non-scholarship Butler football team can take down a nationally ranked Yougstown State or Univ. of San Diego team can win a FCS playoff game. Its not routine, but shows the difference in talent (front line) is not as great as percived, the difference is mostly via depth.

@eejust You are basically talking football, basketball, and the 4 women’s ‘headcount’ sports. Most other sports, even at Power 5 conference schools, do not have full scholarships to offer to any but the top athletes, maybe one or two per team, but even those are rare. If a coach only has 12 scholarships to split among 40 players on a team, it is rare that one student is going to get a full scholarship. Most coaches are hoping that the players also have some kind of merit scholarship or can get a Pell grant or other federal money to make up the difference in the COA.

Recruits compare the full FA offer, whether it is from a ‘need only’ D3 or a mix and match D1/D2 which might include merit, athletic, and some need based (an athlete can accept a Pell grant or SEOG along with athletic aid). Some HAVE to follow the money. My daughter picked a particular D2 school, and she could only afford it with the athletic aid, the merit aid, and the state money…just keep stacking it up, she needed it all. She had offers from other schools but either preferred the school she picked or they didn’t offer enough money. The schools were in all divisions, but the D2 school worked the best for her academically and financially, so it was a win/win.

While I’m sure there are athletes who lose their scholarships, I’ve not met any where the coach just revoked the scholarship, especially because of an injury. Several kids on my daughter’s team left on their own, but none lost any money due to injury and any who wanted to stay on the team and just not get to play could keep the scholarship. The NCAA has a procedure for appealing a reduced or lost scholarship. Injury isn’t a reason to lose a scholarship.

I’ve actually known more students who have lost their merit scholarships for not maintaining a 3.5 or a 3.0, whatever is required, than who have lost athletic scholarships.

Being an athlete is a hook to get into D3 schools – not to help pay for it.

@AlmostThere2018 I generally agree with that ^ particularly for the tippy top D3 academics (Chicago, MIT, Amherst williams). Will pass on a couple of not expected caveats - at Oberlin (coach said kid would be best on the team and with stats above the 75%tile numbers would likely get merit (some college funds) money)( did not go there). A colleague’s kid who was recruited athlete at Kenyon College per parent said the tuition was an “asking price”. Still not clear what that meant. I think for the not tippy top academic D3s there are some wiggle funds.

Then there had better be ‘wiggle funds’ for non-athletes too. And there probably are.

D3 schools giving merit awards, including to recruited athletes:

NESCAC: Trinity and Conn Coll (so, not Amherst, Williams, Midd, Bowdoin etc.)
Liberty League: St Lawrence; Skidmore has limited, very competitive music award (so, not Vassar)
Centennial: Dickinson and Bryn Mawr (so, not Haverford, Swarthmore or Franklin & Marshall)
North Coast: Oberlin, Kenyon, Denison
Midwest Conference: Grinnell
MIAC: Macalester (so not Carleton, as best I understand)

Some of these alternative money sources may sound kind of seedy, but on the whole most D3 schools really are trying to follow the rules and do things with integrity. My DD got into her D3 school on her own, but her coach put in a word to ensure she got into the honors program. That came with a medium scholarship. She’s been on the Dean’s list all five semesters, so it was legit, but with the proper attitude it could be seen as Wiggle money. But let’s be honest, at the D3 level most schools are not throwing around too many $10-15k/year athletic department slush fund “leadership” scholarships, and even if they are it’s usually in the context of a $47k per year cost. it may sweeten the pot, but it’s not going to allow you to go to school there unless your EFC is pretty high. You really can’t count on an athletic scholarship at D3.

But if you are a 1400 SAT /3.8 GPA student that will play a Div 3 sport, you would get the same merit as the same notn sport playing 1400 SAT /3.8 GPA student and have a boost in the one getting admitted.

In hindsight, at my D’s D3 school, I think she would have received more merit applying RD than she did applying as a recruited athlete ED.

I just am quite skeptical that there are “slush funds” in athletic budgets – we know of a D3 school sanctioned when a new assistant coach suggested to one family that there might be more money available to the recruit because they were an athlete – the program had several years of wins stripped, had to show all kinds of compliance training and was “on probation” etc. Merit money is administered from Admissions, not athletic departments.

I am definitely no trying to say that D3 athletic departments have slush fund scholarships. Not what I implied earlier. My apologies if it came accross as such. However, I am saying that schools with strong academic reputations and alumni support, tend to have large endowments. As such they dont neccessarily need to be scholarship programs at the FBS (Ivy, Pioneer) or D3 level to be competitive in most sports. Many of these are D3 and non scholarship FCS. Again, not dominant, competitive. They can grant more and larger scholarships (non athletic) to students, often including recruited athletes. As a result , they may actually be able to provide a total package that is comparable or even better than a D2 or FBS school offering a partial scholarsip to headcount sports and perhaps on par or better than FBS schools as well at the non head count school.