<p>Football versus academics versus merit scholarships</p>
<p>Son is a gifted football player + a solid student.</p>
<p>Situation:</p>
<p>FSU: accepted into Honors Program w/ 2 merit scholarships
Eastern Kentucky: Official Visit, probable full ride football scholarship
Dartmouth: Official Visit/non-scholarship/no financial aid due to family income</p>
<p>Option 1: Positive: Son excells in state University, Dad saves for IVY grad school.
Negative: Son does not play football. heck its FSU.
Option 2: Positive: Son excells on the football field for a solid D-1AA team
Negative: what is a degree from Eastern Kentucky get you?
Option 3: Positive: Son gets accepted into one of the most prestigious colleges
in existence. Son excells on the football field.
Negative: Dad goes 250,000 dollars in debt.</p>
<p>Well…I’ll weigh in. If your son does a Division I sport…that WILL be his job in college. Yes, the kids take classes, etc…but to succeed and excel at a Div I school, the sport will have to take front seat to everything else…year round. If that is what the student is striving to do, fine. If not, look more critically at the other options.</p>
<p>I am not sure about option 1 or 2, but definitely not option 3.
Even Ivy does not worth that much money in debt.
If the student plans to go to grad school, undergraduate won’t matter.</p>
<p>Option 4- son gets injured second week of the semester during practice; team physician says he’ll need surgery and won’t be able to play for a year. Then what???</p>
<p>Then scholarship is covered for four years, if it is contractual. And he concentrates on getting a good education.</p>
<p>If football is still in his lifeblood, then FSU is like the Harvard of football.</p>
<p>And, no, Dartmouth is not worth anywhere near $250,000 in debt, over and above the others. But if dad has the money, then it’s a non-issue, isn’t it?</p>
<p>What does son want? Playing football at the college level is a huge committment. My nephew was recruited to div I school by big time coach, played a few games as a freshman, and absolutely hated it. He left the team midway thru the season, later transferred to a smaller school closer to home. Ended back at first university with parents paying after scholarship was lost.</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s a good analogy. If you go to the Harvard of academics (which I suppose would be Harvard), even if you’re a relatively poor student you still make the “team” and get to “play” (as in take classes and learn). You could be a very good football player and go to FSU, and you might need some luck to be able to walk on.</p>
<p>Oh, and Florida State hasn’t done very well the last few years :)</p>
<p>Said “gifted football player”. If he’s a walk-on, that’s an entirely different situation. </p>
<p>If he feels he’s got what it takes to play football at FSU, and wants to very much, he may kick himself forever if he passes on the opportunity. And in exchange for his father taking on a quarter of a million dollars in debt?</p>
<p>Ah, but you’ve clarified: now it’s an excellent honors program at a good state university for free or close to it (but likely no football), versus football with scholarship in a non-honors program at a mediocre state u. or a pretty good private, versus football and academics and debt at prestige private. </p>
<p>So now, I’ll put the football question aside (as I can’t assess his emotional attachment to it.)</p>
<p>FSU Honors plus $250k in educational spending is much, much, much better than Dartmouth. That’s like free medical school; 5 years working for free in public health in Africa; three trips around the world, unpaid internships anywhere, graduate schools. Top students at FSU honors are likely to get better mentoring, better research opportunities, better internships than middling students at Dartmouth - at least certainly as good, and that’s even without the $250k. </p>
<p>Or dad could give it to sonny for a downpayment on a condo in NYC, or a big house most anywhere else, or big start to a business. </p>
<p>Between #1 and #3, for ME, it would be a no-brainer. Option #2, with Furman (not EK), though, and it begins to get interesting.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the $250K debt. You have enough income to borrow $50K per year to go to D, but there are no savings and nothing can be paid out of current income? Son cannot get a job during non-FB quarters at least and during the summer and contribute a few thousand?</p>
<p>I agree that the first question is whether he wants to play football in college. Even being on a team at a not-great-football-power is a significant commitment of time. Maybe by now he’s had enough of it. Maybe by now he knows he absolutely loves the sport and it takes precedence over everything else.</p>
<p>(Disclosure: S2 is at Dartmouth and absolutely positively loves it.)</p>
<p>I’ll just weigh in as the parent of a Dartmouth freshman to say it’s one amazing place. I went to another ivy, my DD is at a top LAC and I have a son in grad school at MIT. Among all of these schools, I am most impressed watching the Dartmouth experience. </p>
<p>In one quarter DS has formed strong friendships with a just amazingly impressive group from all over the Country and world. He has found a mentor in a prof and has been to the homes of 2 profs for meals. His excitement for the college and what he’s getting there is exactly what a parent wants to see. I understand why it has about the highest rate of alumni giving.</p>
<p>If you really mean big debt, I probably would not do it for any college. If you can swing it, I would for Dartmouth. The whole thought of saving the great school for grad school doesn’t make sense to me. The undergrad years are where you cement your interests and decide your course. Having great, accessible profs then and a strong peer group seems important at this stage to me.</p>
<p>I was a bit flippant about the 250k in debt.</p>
<p>Dartmouth would run (w/ travel expenses et al) around 55k per year.</p>
<p>I can afford around 25k per year so lets just say 100k or so in debt at the end of undergrad (that includes son working summers or off-terms internships etc)…but then you have grad school (something my dad refused to help pay for), and something I feel is paramount in this day and age.</p>
<p>Son LOVES football…this cannot be excised out of the equation…still troubled…</p>
<p>wife also wants to move…FSU yes we can…Dartmouth…foggetaboutit…</p>
<p>welcoming all input, and appreciate all that has come…</p>
<p>Why would you think great accessible profs and a strong peer group (as well as mentoring, internships, and research opportunities) aren’t available at a first-rate honors college inside a large, research university?</p>
<p>(Disclosure: My D1 went to a top LAC, D2 to a rather specialized place. Both are quite satisfied with their education, as are we.)</p>
<p>Would still like to hear more about Furman, a premier southern LAC.</p>
<p>Reject #3 (unless you’re willing to go into extreme debt. IMO–not worth it for undergrad)</p>
<p>If he really wants to continue with football, choose one of the lesser colleges so he can play without putting you and your family into extreme financial debt. </p>
<p>There’s a very good chance that he’ll find out that playing college sports isn’t everything that he thought is would be. This happens to even the best ex-high school athletes. My point is, suggest to him that he make his choice based on education and finances rather than sports.</p>