<p>Coach wants my son to apply ED to D1 school, with Coach's support. College guidance counselor says my son will get in during the regular admissions cycle, based on Naviance etc. (unless his grades dive, which I don't think will happen).</p>
<p>Issue: My son will need financial aid, which is not awarded until later in the process. This cannot be an unusual situation. To complicate matters, my son is not 100% certain at the present that this is the best option for him. However, it is too good an opportunity to pass up. He wants to keep it on the table as long as he can.</p>
<p>Any suggested strategies for convincing coach to let him apply regular decision?</p>
<p>If this is too good of an opportunity to pass up, why is he does he want to pass it up?</p>
<p>If your son is sure 100% that he wants to attend this school and be a recruited athlete with a guaranteed roster spot & any possible athletic $$, I would follow the advice & guidance of the coach. You will have to approve the FA package prior to confirming ED admission. As c’smom suggests, get a FA pre-read with FAFSA and CSS forms completed as needed.</p>
<p>If your son tells the coach he wants to go RD, then you run the risk of the coach moving onto the next recruit that will apply ED.</p>
<p>Ask yourself, if money was not a concern, would this be your child’s first choice? In that case you should use that as a negotiating tool. He should say he cannot commit to ED without a financial package as some other schools are putting together offers and he doesn’t want to miss out. If he is going to pass on this school anyway without a good scholarship, you have nothing to lose and you will find out early on that there is no money here. Coaches often have a better idea of finances than you think.</p>
<p>Long time ago I posted that a coach that had my kid for a visit made a big show of doing a pre-read, smelled my SO’s enthusiasm, wanted a full-time job like commitment in exchange for guaranteed ED–with absolutely no money attached (50K tuition). We felt so insulted and duped! Plenty of other coaches were honest enough to state during initial talks if they had little or no $ to offer. Turned out that this school was not the best fit anyway and the coach is an even bigger jerk than the initial impression made, the team dislikes the coach and doesn’t get along that well either. My kid eventually found the ideal match, some scholarship $s and a fantastic coach. Much better school too according to every reputable ranking out there. Pushy coaches are nothing but trouble</p>