So today I was offered an athletic slot at a pretty prestigious institution for automatic admission…obviously I was ecstatic, but then I was told since I had a slot I wouldn’t be able to get need based aid from the school as their need based aid was tied into their athletic slots… are there any other cases like this? (The school is D1)
So did you get an athletic scholarship?
Can you comment on this?
No I was not offered an athletic scholarship only a slot, but the coach’s exact words were ‘‘We are only alloted a certain amount of school financial aid for our recruiting slots. At this time that amount has been depleted.’’
So they want you but not enough to pay for your attendance. I would keep looking.
“So they want you but not enough to pay for your attendance. I would keep looking.”
This. If a prestigious D1 school would take you, a less prestigious D2 school would probably be willing to pay your way. Go look.
But the money is separate in athletics from merit scholarship and need based grants isn’t it?
Schools have to be very careful with need based aid being awarded to athletes. Even though this athlete is getting no athletic aid, he may be considered an ‘athletic admit’ (‘preferred walkon’ is another term used) and any need based aid granted by the school would then be counted against the team. OP said he’s being admitted as a ‘slot’, so that’s an athletic admit.
An athlete can accept any federal or state need based aid (Pell grant, loans, SEOG, state grant) even if it is need based, but not need based aid from the school, from a booster, or even from an outside scholarship that is awarded for athletic talent (could accept that, but it would go against the team total and OP said the team doesn’t have any room).
Depending on the sport, even if the student gets an athletic award next year, it might not be much. If a team has 12 scholarships but normally has 40 or so team members, no one is getting a lot of money unless they are truly a superstar. Most coaches will divide those 12 between the classes, so 8-10 freshmen may be splitting 3 full scholarships, with one or two getting 1/2 scholarships, and the others 1/4 or no money at all. The team may also not be fully funded, so there is less money to split. Some give little money to freshmen, much more to seniors. Up to the coach to divide the money.
Even at big D1 schools that give full ride football scholarships, they’ll still have about 30 football team students who cannot receive need based FA. If the school could give need based aid to the non-scholarship players, the teams could just pick the 30 players with the most need and make them non-athletic scholarship recipients and get around the limits on the number of athletic scholarships. NCAA is not that stupid.
So in other words I would have to pay sticker price?
and I couldn’t receive merit aid?
We know of an athlete who was “signed” by a huge D1 school.
She pays full price. I guess it’s an honor but man…that would be so rough.
Athletic, academic and artistic scholarships are categorized as merit scholarships and are granted on a student’s performance in those areas. This means they are not guaranteed year to year. Need based aid is entirely separate, is based on need only, and continues as long as the student’s financial need continues regardless of other factors.
That said, from what I understand, Div 1 and 2 sports are regulated as to how many athletic scholarships they can grant for X dollars, but they can divvy up those scholarships/dollars as they please. It sounds like this Div 1 school has already decided what they are going to do with their dollars.
Div 3 schools are freer to grant merit scholarships to athletes even though the money is not specifically carved out for athletics. A Div 3 school may not be as appealing to you, but if an athletic scholarship is your best path to college affordability and no Div 1 or 2 schools offer you $, it may be worth considering. From U.S. News . . . . .
This is an old article (2010), but I don’t believe the general rules have changed. Hope that helps.
It doesn’t really work that way. D2 schools have the same limitations on combining athletic and school need based aid as D1 (can’t do it). It’s just a matter of finding the best school that has some money left in the scholarship budget. I don’t know about wrestling, but in many sports the D1 teams are often filled (scholarships given out) before the start of the school year. NCAA limits D1 teams to 9.9 scholarships, D2 to 9, so not many available, and not many schools offering them.
I already have a solid Divison one option besides this one… so it looks like I have my option set for me…