Yes
It’s rare that you can combine. Make sure to get that financial offer in writing.
There are scholarships for sports not governed by the NCAA. Men’s rowing is not an NCAA sport, but some schools, even D1 NCAA schools, have separate scholarships. There ARE fishing scholarships awarded.
There was a news story about an athlete from a local high school who was a football star. He turned down football scholarships to take a bass fishing scholarship to U of Dallas.
@AprylJD4 glad your son now has an option.
If it it Bethel in TN, that’s an NAIA school and the rules of scholarships and aid are different than in NCAA schools (although if the sport isn’t in the NCAA, the rules probably don’t apply).
You have to play the cards you are dealt, so Bethel may be the best option.
Not sure why anyone would pay $41,000 COA simply because their kid has to fish in lakes.
He can get a great education at the SUNY campuses. He can work and sve his own money to fund fishing trips during school breaks and in the summer.
The gap you currently have after receiving your need based aid is $41,000. I’ll stick my neck out and say…I do NOT think it likely that Auburn will bridge that gap with merit aid.
I’ve heard there are lakes in NY too. Lakes with bass in them.
This may have been posted already, but some of these colleges may still be accepting applications, or may be worth looking into if your son takes a gap year:
https://www.bassmaster.com/news/find-bass-fishing-college
@Thumper1 if you read my update he was just recruited by a private school in Tennessee and was offered a very generous academic scholarship as well as a scholarship to commit to their fishing team. This option leaves him with having to borrow little to nothing. I would like you to research the name Jordan Lee. He just won $300,000.00 in the Bassmaster Classic yesterday. He also has a very impressive sponsorship from Carhart and has made a very impressive living by fishing the Bass Master Elite series. He us just 25. Jordan got his start on the Auburn fishing team. My son is not looking for a school with a fishing team just so he can hang out with his buddies and fishing on the weekends. The very good news is that while academically or socially Bethel is not Auburn it had dominated the collegiate fishing world for years and is considered a power house with on team member who has sponsorship and qualified for the same Bass Master Classic that Jordan won yesterday. So while you are probably correct that Auburn will not bridge the gap as unlined private schools Auburn does not offer fishing scholarships my son will be attending a school that affords him the ability to fish and had this opportunity not presented itself we would have considered ways to bridge that gap and we do believe there is the likelihood of a return on his investment. This is a serious interest and pursuit of his, and he has fished with and is mentored by the top professionals in the sport.
Look at the link below to get a glimpse of my sons fishing career thus far and maybe you will understand what competitive fishing is all about.
It appears the link does work but look him up on Facebook or YouTube.
The high school guidance counselor’s primary job is to get the students out of high school, and in a lot of districts that’s a pretty hard job. They also assist with getting kids into college by preparing the forms and steering them toward, in my experience, state schools. My kids went to a suburban high school with a very low free lunch percentage, and most (most) of the kids went to state schools, needed information on state scholarships, needed to know the difference between UF and FSU and UCF, needed to know what their options were if they didn’t get into one of those. Very little help with anything OOS. I don’t fault the GC as they were helping the majority.
There are lakes in New York but there is no competitive bass fishing in the schools mainly because of the climate and the culture. This is not hobby fishing.
Glad he found a school that works financially. Good luck to him!
This is referring to combining financial aid with athletic aid. It is not rare, you just have to know what kind of aid it is.
You can combine federal and state need based aid with athletic aid. Even D1 football players on full ride scholarships can receive a pell grant. They can also accept SEOG even though it is up to the school to determine who gets those dollars. They can accept merit aid if it is offered on the same basis to athletes as to other students (there are some NCAA minimums for some divisions) even if it is competitive and the school makes the decision on who receives the merit money; the NCAA just accepts that the Jefferson Scholarship committee or Davidson Presidential Scholars isn’t going to lower the standards to award academic scholarships to athletes who don’t deserve them academically. What you (usually) can’t accept is need based FA from the school and athletic aid for an NCAA sport.
But this poster is talking either about a non-NCAA sport at an NCAA school, or a scholarship at an NAIA school. There probably are no restrictions with combining aid.
‘In writing’ is always a good idea.
I can combine government aid but not any institutional that he might be eligible for.
Congratulations!
@AprylJD4 Congrats to your son! So glad you have an affordable option that will help him with his fishing pursuits. Good luck to him!
After considering academic and fishing scholarship offers from Bethel University and Georgetown College he has officially chosen Bethel and we are very excited about this choice. Now that I have gotten an expirienced based education in this whole college application process I am hoping it will be a less stressful and disappointing expirience as we begin the process withy my daughter. She has been in touch with several Acro coaches and is beggining the process of evaluation and recruitment and she is beggining serious test prep to assure that she can get her scores up to where they need to be to assure she can get some sort of merit based monies along with athletic scholarships. As we have learned a lot I hop I was able to help others out. While my children have chosen some off the beaten path athletics to persue they are a means to an end just like the persuit of other sports or academic ventures. While may find my son’s desire to fish in collehge ridiculous or frivolous he is being offered and excellent oipportunity to persue his degrees and passion and getting paid to do it because of his pereverence in his chosen sport. Most people don’t know what acro is and thumb their noses at cheerleading but my daughters background as an elite competetive cheerleader who has traveled all-over the country is allowing her to have the opportunity for serious scholarship money at schools like Baylor and Quinnapiac. My kids have lofty dreams that are not understood by many and I encouraged them to pursue them with all they have and because of that they have their nose to the grind and are on lakes fishing and in gyms tumbling at any given time instead of doing god knows what and will be able to get affordable educations becuase of their odd non conventional talents. I am so proud of my son for making a wise decision while not giving up on his dream and settling for going to a SUNY on the NYS taxpayers dime.
Congrats to your son. However, I note that, if a good education is the ultimate goal, the SUNYs would not have been settling. I dare say all the SUNYs are better than Bethel.
Why is his going to school paid for by the supporters of Bethel better than going to a SUNY on the taxpayers’ support? It sounds like you are the one looking down on SUNY students.
It’s all good. Cheerleading is not an NCAA sport, so the rules your daughter will have to work with will be different than what you just went through for your son.
@itsgettingreal17 I don’t disagree that the quality of education would be excellent at a SUNY but he would have been settling on his dream and persuits by stayingve here up North and not being on a collegiate fishing team.