<p>I was just wondering how the official visits work for the Ivy league schools as well as Division III. Do the Ivy's pay for recruits to visit their schools like powerhouse Division I do? How does all that work. Also if they do pay for official visits, when do they usually happen. Do they happen in the fall, winter, or spring? Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Why don't you have your student speak with the coach via email or telephone. Every school operates their athletic recruiting differently. Why would you ask someone on a college forum, for all you know could be completely lying to you, when all you need to do is have your son/daughter take some initiative as a young adult and do some of their own investigation. I don't mean to be impudent, but I feel that too often people substitute College Confidential for doing their own research into college. The more you familiarize yourself with the coaching staff, the easier of a time you'll have being recruited.</p>
<p>From experience however, at least one Ivy school pays for everything connected with an official visit. Well ... everything after getting to the airport. (It would have been quicker and easier to drive, but they flew him in and getting to the airport from boarding school was not a piece of cake!) </p>
<p>In my experience (I am the mom of a freshman Ivy athlete writing from the hotel room after bringing him up for orientation), the coach is very interested in keeping the family comfortable with the process and informed. If you have questions, call the coach during office hours. They don't bite!</p>
<p>Another Ivy athlete parent weighing in. If you are truly offered an "official" visit, the school will cover the expenses. Agreed- school to airport was the tough one and you are on your own for that! Most of the visits occur in fall of senior year, but depending on the sport, can drift into winter.</p>
<p>As I recall, the school asked for optimal departing airport on specific date and made the reservations on e-tickets. They picked him up in Ithaca and arranged for him to bunk with team members. Dinner with the coach and other recruits was a highlight. The guys were talking about that dinner last night -- we took S and one of his suite and teammates out for dinner last night. </p>
<p>One other official visit -- transportation was on the athlete, but campus housing and dining was arranged by the coach. Non Ivy, non scholarship program that didn't have a lot of bucks to spend.</p>
<p>It's going to vary by sport and school. When the official visit invitation is extended, ask the questions!</p>
<p>Ivies and at least some D3's, in our experience - all expenses paid.</p>
<p>My understanding of DIII's is that they cannot offer "official visits" specifically to athletes. They can only offer official visits that would be available to every prospective student.</p>
<p>D3 official visits include paid transportation to the school, meals while at the school, and tickets to athletic contests.</p>
<p>So basically it varies from college to college. Some pay for the whole thing while others by for everything else once you get to the college? One LAC said my son could get picked up at the airport and stay with an athlete on the team. He also said in the e-mail that it they can host you for 48 hours.Does that imply it's an official visit? </p>
<p>One last question. Can a recruit only make 5 official visits for all Divisions?</p>
<p>Yes. The 48 hour limit, in particular, means that the school is counting it as an official.</p>
<p>Lacrosse seems to be getting committments from the athletes earlier and earlier. The official visit, in many cases, is coming after the verbal committment from coach and athlete. In this scenario, the athlete is probably only going on one "official visit." Goodness knows there were certainly enough unofficial visits to a multitude of schools before committing anywhere.</p>
<p>There was one school, a really long distance from home, that wanted a committment before extending an offer of an official visit. My S was not willing to commit before visiting the school, and also not willing to pony up for plane fare to do an unofficial.</p>