Hi - looking for recommendations for colleges in areas where there are lots of mountain biking opportunities. Looking for a place that’s relatively affordable OOS and might possibly offer biking scholarships…? Thanks so much for any thoughts!
I’ve heard Colorado Mesa has mtn bike $ and amazing mtn biking at U of Utah!
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Montana State, Univ of Montana, Boise State all come to mind
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For what major?
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OOS from where?
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You’ve been asked good questions - i.e. what major - but Arkansas is near mountain biking trails and it’s a cool town. I also think U Colorado and Cal Poly SLO would be good. NAU as well. I’m sure there’s smaller state and private colleges that would be solid. Utah and New Mexico as well if you head out of town.
Radford, Va Tech, and Washington & Lee in Southern VA - that gives you a gamut of sizes too.
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The problem is that there are FAR too many schools that will have good mountain biking close by. I mentored and sponsored a young racer that ultimately ended up at a small school in the south on a cycling scholarship (MTB, Road and Cross). You can mountain bike almost anywhere. Schools that will give money are rare. They are competitive too. The young man I spoke of, long since out of college, was a multi-time, multi-event state champion, in one of the most competitive states in the nation. He was ultimately a collegiate team national champion.
Until we know what major, home state, budget, how important the joy versus need for the scholarship is, and how competitive a cyclist the OP’s child is, it’s really just a crapshoot.
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Thank you all SO much for these suggestions. And also for the perspective re: $ and the likelihood (or not) of getting it. Major is business.
From experience I know U of CO gives minimal scholarships to OOS - but hopeful some of these others might be a bit more generous…
University of Utah has great mountain biking.
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For cycling, merit or financial need?
CU-Boulder does not have a school sponsored cycling team. They don’t offer cycling scholarships, not even to their A level riders (the A level riders are Pro adjacent national and international caliber athletes). They don’t even fully support the cost to race. Essentially the student pays to race for Colorado.
There are collegiate cycling teams all over, but only 20 school sponsored cycling programs in the nation. They are mostly very small, unheralded schools, scattered all over. Four of them are D3, so they can’t offer athletic scholarships. That leaves 16. I could be wrong, but my strong suspicion is that money only goes to elite level athletes. I’ll post a link to all of them below.
Of the schools with sponsored programs, the only one I’m familiar with is Westminster. Gore school of business is good, and being in SLC, it’s close to great cycling.
Unless competition is a top priority for your student though, I’d give up on seeking organized programs. The money is minimal, the time commitment is significant and the school choices are highly restricted. If they just wants access to great mountain biking for his own enjoyment, there are lots of good options.
EDIT: I realized I assumed gender. I edited to be neutral.
I think you need to provide your stats. Can you get into CU? Are you well above?
What is important to you - having a team or just recreation? A small or big school, etc. We don’t know anything about you academically - your accomplishments, etc.
CU seems to have 2 levels of scholarship - $6,250 a year and I think $15K or so. Most get the $6,250. For my daughter, DU ended up cheaper although she chose neither school. I think CU would have been high $40s.
As @eyemgh said there are trails almost anywhere.
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Appalachian State University in NC, also UNC-Asheville. Tons of mountain biking in the NC mountains. Boone (where App State is) and Asheville are top mountain biking destinations. You could also look at Brevard, Western Carolina, Lees-McCrae, Warren Wilson and some of the smaller colleges in the mountains.
U of Utah offers a number of scholarships that will bring the cost close to the instate rate for OOS. Merit is even more accessible (although less highly rated) is UNM, which offers auto-merit for stats. Check out the criteria for the Amigo scholarship.
My kid qualified for the Amigo at UNM and the Presidential at Utah this year and the cost was about 20K annually for both. We did not bother with CU-Boulder (ranked same as Utah per USNWR) due to OOS cost.
This is certainly the angle I’d take, looking for academic scholarships in areas where mountain biking is close and plentiful. If that’s the approach, then I too would highly recommend Utah and pass on CU-Boulder due to the cost. Without knowing your student’s stats though, it’s hard to advise.
I like Cal Poly and Orfalea is a very good business school, but they won’t be giving much if any aid to OOS students and the cost is rising due to the addition of the opportunity fee. I think it might still be worth it for engineering, but probably not business unless your student is interested in something specialized like Industrial Technology and Packaging.
Don’t know about scholarships, but Fort Lewis in Durango has a very successful cycling team. I believe it is the public LAC (with education and business programs added) of the Colorado system, and has a very outdoorsy orientation according to a friend who went there. A link to the cycling team page:
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I agree Fort Lewis College and University of Utah. Both have merit scholarships. FLC has cycling scholarships but I believe it is only a couple of thousand dollars a year at the most. FLC is a small (2800) liberal arts college and U of Utah is large (18,000 +).
@Jolynne_Smyth What amount can you afford for school, and what state do you live in?
This is so, so helpful. Thank you all!
While I’d like to, I can’t provide the detailed stats (privacy) that would (I know) inform more targeted advice.
What’s provided here is an incredible start for further research. Thank you again!
University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Plenty of mountain biking in the Sandia and Manzano mountains. Take a bike-friendly city bus (or just ride, it’s <11 miles) to one of the numerous National Forest access points on the east edge of the city. Or ride your bike on one of the urban trails to the Rio Grande Bosque to bike on one of the less technical trails along the river.
Trails inside ABQ or on the west side of the mountains
East side trails
https://www.trailforks.com/region/sandia-mountain-east-side-trails/
UNM is very OOS friendly and offers in-state tuition to many OOS students–even those with modest stats.
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Colorado Springs has great trails, so you might want to add Colorado College to your list!