Thanks for explanation @RightCoaster My D’s friend told her that Princeton does not give athletic scholarships but she will end up with basically a full ride. Her family is middle income, defiantly not EFC $0, but I doubt they could afford Princeton. Do you know how that works?
Welcome @MSU88CHEng ! :-h
@CaucAsianDad there are no athletic or academic scholarships awarded in the Ivy League, so I’m not sure how you’re friend is getting anything other than true financial aid. Just so you know, it’s very rare for most athletes to get a full ride. Usually it’s D1 football, basketball, etc. i.e revenue sports.
Regarding athletic recruiting - what makes it more challenging is that not every Division or every league within a division follows the same rules. The league rules in the Ivies permit the admissions offices to send out Likely Letters a couple of months before decisions are released. The rules in the NESCAC (Div III) prohibit the use of Likely Letters, while other Div III schools, such as the University of Chicago do issue Likely Letters.
If you put your eggs in the basket of a school that issues Likely Letters, you still have a few months to scramble if the Likely Letter does not come through. If you put your eggs in a basket with no Likely Letter, it is harder to scramble this late in the game. S turned down offers of Likely Letters and put his eggs in the latter basket. We have no reason not to trust the process, but I wish everyone played by the same rules.
@CaucAsianDad It is a total myth that the Ivies and other elite schools that don’t offer athletic or academic scholarships will somehow find a way to give recruited athletes a full ride via financial aid when the student doesn’t otherwise qualify for such aid.
@CaucAsianDad Princeton has amazing FA for middle class families. If your friend’s D is getting aid, it has nothing to do with athletics.
@itsgettingreal17 – how does that myth get perpetuated so much??? A local family here was soooo convinced Their son was getting a full sports scholarship to an Ivy. I ever so briefly tried to correct the notion but stopped— because I know I am annoying. Now I can see the kid has state schools on his list which is great since I know they likely have a massive EFC.
But do the coaches hint at this with recruiting?
@carachel2 No, coaches do not hint at this with recruiting. Based on my experiences, I think parents are confused and give inaccurate information. I have also seen cases where the parents never said that their child was getting an athletic scholarship, yet somehow other families were telling others that the athlete was getting an athletic scholarship.
I’m channeling my anxiety into cleaning. I’d already thrown, bisqued and glazed all my pottery for my ceramics class, and the prof asked the people who were done if they could help tidy up.
I tackled the glazing room, which was by far the messiest room in the studio. I came out two hours later to drag the trash to the curb and the prof walked into the room and said “oh my god!”
I thought I might have messed up and thrown too much out (I definitely do that sometimes), but the other students went in behind her and were like, that is amazing, how did you do that in two hours and can you come to my house, lol.
I said I’m stressing about college, finals and Christmas, and this is how I work it out. Am overwhelming need to restore order when there is none in my life. …
It was either that or go to the pound and rescue a dog, and this felt like the more rational option.
I should have taken a picture, that room will never look that good again 
^^ MoD Can you come to my house, lol.
I need to tidy up an area to put out the tree to decorate. 
@CaucAsianDad Princeton and the other HYPS have great financial aid for middle class families. A family making $100K or even more can get a majority of their costs paid for at those schools. The hard part is getting in to those schools, but if you do, they can be one of the cheaper options.
The coaches we’ve met have never mentioned financial aid. They have flat out told us he would not being getting any athletic $$ at a DII school, but his grades/scores would put him into consideration for merit $$ which might be worth than the athletic $$. The other coaches just said if we have financial aid questions they’d be happy to set up a meeting with fin aid people during the visit. At a few schools the admissions people met with my son and told him he’d likeley receive some academic merit in some form based on transcript/scores, but that get’s figured out separately.
A lot of people like to be able to brag that there kid got some $$ to go to xyz school. It’s kind of stupid really, but some people are insecure and go that route. Not me, for the record my kid, should he even play in college now, will never receive 1 dime of athletic aid or get help from admissions in getting in. He’s just lumped into the mix now like everyone else, for better or for worse. I still think it’s going to work out in the end in the best of interest of my son.
In addition to academic pre-reads, the Ivies also conduct financial pre-reads. If an athlete is lucky enough to get offers from more than one Ivy and his second choice offers a better FA package, he can ask his top choice to match it. The NESCAC college conduct academic pre-reads, but they are not permitted to conduct FA pre-reads.
I have a mom friend whose son is an awesome swimmer–state awards. But the recruitment is coming up short. He got an offer form our #1 State school to swim for them and drumroll…they offered to pay for his BOOKS!
All other more favorable $$$ offers have come from branch schools wayyyy out in west Texas that I don’t think he cares to attend.
The thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars and time and early mornings at the pool are no doubt looming large in their head. I really feel for them. I don’t know if they had hopes and dreams pinned on them, but I wouldn’t blame them…how could you not?
Just another plug to keep checking and re-checking portals.
This morning I went into my S17’s Colorado State portal and noticed that there was an update. Checked the update and noticed that he had been accepted into the Honors program! Great!
Did some more digging and noticed that he had a financial aid notice. Checked it and sure enough he had been offered the Green & Gold Scholarship. $3K per year (good merit scholarship for CSU). There was even a letter that was supposed to have been mailed to our home on November 28. We have not received it yet and the school is 7 miles away.
Good news. This is one of his safety’s but with the scholarship and the additional scholarship of making it into the Honors college, this school is REALLY affordable!
Congrats to all the Acceptances both regular and ED…
Anxiety in our house today. S is usually composed, but ED decision is looming, and he is uptight. He is leaving for a school trip, so that added craziness to the morning. Good luck all others waiting for today’s and next week’s news.
@carachel12 I feel sorry for the families who are pursuing sports in hopes of getting a scholarship to pay for college. They would be much better off putting that money in a college fund and focusing on getting academic merit awards.
The vast majority of families that I know have kids who participate in sports because they love it, not because they are expecting an athletic scholarship. Hopefully, your friend’s family with the swimmer falls into this category.
Happy girl headed off to school today. A friend has a sweatshirt and brought it for D to wear all day. We now need to get her her own college swag–didn’t want to jinx things by ordering ahead of the ED notification. Good luck and calming thoughts to those waiting for next week’s ED dates.
@shuttlebus I agree. But in TX, many club coaches use promises of athletic scholarships to recruit players. I remember when my D was playing club soccer, her coach routinely told new prospects that everyone on his state champ winning/nationals competing graduating squad received a full ride. Sounds good right? And everyone was very impressed. I’m a skeptic, so I went to verify his claim. While they may have received full rides, I was very unimpressed with the quality of the academics at the schools that the students attended, and I’m by no means a academic elitist. I was very vocal after that about sports scholarships and coaches overpromising. I think swim coaches are much better about not making such promises. In my experience, swimmers also tend to be from wealthier families so have more tempered expectations.
@rerunagain you’ll need to let your D put in an apparel order tonight! Congrats!