I am not sure if it will hurt the chance for D to get recruited if I bring up FA with the coach? We are the typical “too rich to afford college” group… Tried the calculator on the school website, zero FA. DH is a medical professional that owns his professional business. Plenty of financial debts from the business. We saved up some for the first year of college and could move some funds around to pay for another 3 years but it’s going to hurt our business’s financial situation because we are going through a phase of rebuilding a healthier financial picture after carrying out a rapid business expansion. Plus D wants to pursuit another 6 years of post-grad for a vet specialist…ouch.
I have heard some coaches could pull a little bit FA help for the recruits if they want them enough on the team and I am not sure if it is true? This school offers no merit scholarship except for a couple grants for the NMF…ugh
On our first visit (it was to a D1 school but my DD plays a non-headcount sport) I sort of said ‘How does the financing work?’ and the coach was very evasive, talked about merit aid, etc. We weren’t gelling with that school anyway (loved the coach) because it was too small, so didn’t push it, but she did clue me in to the fact that if there was athletic aid the school could award merit aid but not need based aid and so I did some general NCAA research and was more knowledgeable going forward. At the next official meeting with a coach (D2) I asked again how financial aid worked and she outright told me she didn’t give money to freshmen because they haven’t proven themselves. That was the last of that school. My daughter could have received a lot of merit, but wasn’t interest enough in the school. A D3 coach said there was nothing she could do, to just work with the FA office.
The next school the coach (new to the school) had it all worked out because, being new, she was learning too. She’d contacted the admissions office, knew what merit we could expect and how much she was planning to offer from her budget. It was a start. I didn’t argue with her there and then or ask for more, but just said ‘okay.’ The merit was less than what I was getting from the NPC (the school hadn’t updated ACT scores so that was the problem) and when it came down to committing I just said we needed more, so the coach came up a little.
I thought you were looking at a D3 school? If so, the coaches can’t do a lot about the FA (need based) except talk to the FA office. The coach might have control over a small sport scholarship (like the Smith Family Gymnastic grant) but those are pretty rare. If it is a D2 school, there might be a little room to negotiate with the coach, and I think it is okay to ask for a ballpark number at the first meeting but just do it in general terms. I appreciated the direct approach, even from the coach who said she gives nothing. No use wasting time with schools that aren’t going to work out.
Thanks everyone for your input. I think I will go with the flow, so if she asks then I would probably say it would be nice if it works. Otherwise, I will just wait until application to decide if I check a “yes” or “no” even though I have anticipated the answer already…
It is rare (ie an NCAA violation) for a d3 school provide special consideration of aid for a student athlete. What you will get, in some cases, is coaches well versed in how to navigate the FA department to maximize the aid the school can give.
That being said, if it is a school, like you described, that has virtually no merit aid, and you have need (as determined by the schools formulas), it is highly unlikely that the coach is going to be able to do anything for you in that department.
