<p>We're entering uncharted territory now - seems like the search might be over and the financial dealings might be about to begin.</p>
<p>With equivalency sports, when the coach has X number of scholarships to give out, are those scholarships tuition only or do they include room and board?</p>
<p>I feel so unqualified for this part of the process! Thanks for any info.</p>
<p>It can be a full scholarship. My daughter is a gymnast, which is an equivalency sport. Most DI schools that are fully funded, give out full scholarship (tuition, books, room and board) to 12 athletes. My so is a soccer player. Most soccer teams break up their 9.9 equivalency into many smaller scholarships, although a star player may receive a full scholarship.</p>
<p>I know they break it up at this school. I’m just trying to figure out if they quote a percentage, is that out of tuition only, or out of total cost of attendance? I’m guessing then that it included everything?</p>
<p>A fully funded team has X number of scholarship for the full cost of attendance, with X being the number allowed by the NCAA. When a scholarship offer is made, it can be for either a percentage of tuition or a percentage of cost of attendance. And some offers are for X number of dollars. In equivalency sports, how the allowed scholarships are divided is generally driven by the size of the team. Larger teams usually divide the money up so as to get the maximum number of athletes for their given dollars. Smaller teams generally give more money per athlete. Also, the number of scholarships is per year, not per class. Seems to be a lot of confusion on this point.</p>
<p>Another thing we were not aware of until we were in the process is the fact that while the NCAA might allow X number of scholarships for a particular sport, that does not mean the school funds that many. We are involved with men’s swimming so that is all I know about, but we very naively thought all DI teams had 9.9 scholarships. (I think that is the number) Luckily we met some very open mid-major coaches who had anywhere between 2 and 5 scholarships to spread across their whole roster and learned how much money there really is-or isn’t. In my experience, many club coaches are perpetuating a myth about how much money there is for these accomplished but not uber-elite athletes.</p>
<p>Kate, you have hit the nail on the head! This is one of my pet peeves, club coaches who perpetuate the myth that swimming is a path to full ride college scholarships for the masses. Are these coaches just ignorant or are they preying on the emotions of the parents of little Johnny and Debbie superstar, who are big fish in a small pond. What about 10/10, only 10% of high school athletes will compete at the collegiate level and only 10% of those competing at the collegiate level will be receiving significant scholarship money to do so.</p>
<p>Personally, I believe there are great benefits to participation in sports, for both the superstars and the benchwarmers. Not every athlete is cut out for collegiate level sports and the goal of sports participation should not be the golden ticket of a sports scholarship.</p>
<p>Kate, I totally agree as well. It’s been a rude awakening but we made it this far! Would we do it again? Probably. Our coach has seen quite a few full rides, but it’s either been a case of an exceptional athlete or not an exceptional school.</p>
<p>Fishy, can you clarify X number per year as opposed to per class? Do you mean because they change the amounts each year, so for example if they have 8, they don’t tell each class we have two for you, but rather the freshmen might end up having to split 1, so the seniors can have 3?</p>
<p>Soon enough I’ll get it. And then I won’t have to use it again … my son will be getting in on his own - hopefully!! ;-)</p>
<p>OK, another question. </p>
<p>If you are offered only a small percentage of tuition in the form of an athletic scholarship, would you be able to supplement this with merit aid, if qualified? Or can you only have one or the other? Or does it depend on the school?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>We were told that it’s one on the other for fully-funded programs. If merit aid or financial aid were combined with the athletic scholarship, then the full amount would be charged against the team as athletic money given out. This is the reason why many athletes end up having to reject outside scholarships. That extra money, if counted as scholarship funding, would put the program over their allowable amount. </p>
<p>My D was given the choice of a very small athletic scholarship (a % of tuition) or financial aid. Since the financial aid was much greater, she chose that. But that meant she had to return a scholarship which was based on sports participation that she had received from her high school’s athletic booster club. If she hadn’t, then all of her financial aid would have counted as an athletic scholarship. The rule keeps teams honest.</p>
<p>I don’t know how it works if the school isn’t fully funded, though.</p>
<p>Please forgive my extreme stupidity, but what is ‘fully funded?’ I think the NCAA allows more scholarships than the school gives out, is that what you mean?</p>
<p>I have a book about athletic recruiting and it specifically describes athletes on a case by case basis to illustrate the rules and workings of the process. In one case, they do describe a boy in my daughter’s sport who gets merit aid on top of the athletic aid the school has offered him, so he ended up with 50% covered by the school. Of course, this boy was so resourceful that he went out and lined up scholarships for the other 50% as well!! So I guess if the book describes it, it may be possible at some schools? </p>
<p>That’s too bad that she had to turn down an outside scholarship. I hope the financial aid was very generous! We won’t be getting financial aid, so that may be different too. In our case, it’s just two different types of non-need based aid that we’re hoping for.</p>
<p>First, a fully funded team is one where the team has the full number of NCAA allowable scholarships. I think there is a distinction between Merit scholarships and need based financial aid as it affects athletic scholarships and what is charged to a team. But student-athletes can receive other forms of financial aid. This is from the NCA publication, “How do Athletic Scholarships Work?” </p>
<p>"Can student-athletes receive other, non-athletic financial aid?</p>
<p>Yes. Thousands of student-athletes benefit from academic scholarships and need-based aid, such as federal Pell Grants. In addition, there is money available from the NCAA’s own
Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund. Sometimes student-athletes cannot accept certain types of aid because of NCAA amateurism or financial aid requirements. Student-athletes and parents with questions on additional financial aid should check with their athletic department or college financial aid office." </p>
<p>I am not sure what determines when and how the aid gets charged to the team.</p>
<p>Great fishy, thanks for that info. It seems like what we are hoping for is possible under general rules, but a school’s own policy may change that. We should know soon enough.</p>
<p>Wildberry, my son plays college golf and it is an “almost” fully funded equivalency sport. NCAA D1 allows for 4.5 scholarships per team. The team carries 10. However there are some players who receive nothing, some who have a set dollar amount and some have % scholarships. Mine is receiving a % scholarship and it is toward tuition, room, board and books. The university figures out what the % cost of each of those areas would be based on costs that year and then they add it all up to one lump sum. Each quarter they put 1/3 of his money in his account and we pay the rest. I am very happy he is on a % as we are in California and tuition costs rose but his % rose with it. Set amounts do not have that luxury. Hope that helps shed some light.</p>
<p>Thanks momof2010…as this is a slightly dated thread, my daughter did commit for a % scholarship which is all of the expenses, not just tuition. So that is a relief, although the % is not as high as we would like! We are hoping for an absolute $ amount merit award on top of the athletic, but we won’t know this for at least another two weeks. We have been told that the athletic % may increase if performance increases; but that’s something we don’t want to focus on too much. There’s enough pressure with being a college athlete in the first place without having to worry about making certain benchmarks just to get more money!</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply :-)</p>
<p>Congrats on your daughters commitment. A big relief I am sure. % is best, trust me!! Don’t be surprised if they raise it if she earns it. They did that for my son, it was very unexpected but the coach called and said to wait before we pay our part because they wanted to up his scholarship. I was blown away and very grateful. I said thank you to the coach but he said thank your son, he earned it. Just made me feel like there are still good ones out there who take care of their own. Where is your daughter going to go to school if I may ask? And what sport does she play?</p>
<p>Momof2010:
Thanks for the good info. One follow up question…
What happens in years 2,3 and 4? Does your son’s % change from year to year depending on performance, etc or does it stay the same for all 4 years? Same for $ based as well?
If it does change, when are you informed as to the adjustment?
Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Sleeplessinbost- we were told by the coach (and so far he has kept his word 100%) that they do not lower scholarships of their athletes who do what is asked of them. That being said my son is a top player on the team, I would be very surprised if it changes in any way but possibly up. The coaches did give him a bonus this year so it did go up more than we had planned. That being said, there have been players on the team who have lost their roster spot and scholarship but it was for legitimate reason, either breaking team rules, not practicing or basically not preforming as expected at the D1 level. Each year the coach meets individually with each player to resign their athletic aid contract and at that time a raise or a change is possible. But again the coach said to me that they have never lowered a scholarship on any athlete who was doing everything they can to be the best they could be. I also believe that an athlete can volunteer to give up a portion of their scholarship to help bring in a good recruit but this is a choice by the athlete… Pretty sure my son would say no… lol Hope that helps.</p>