My son has pretty ok times for lower D1 schools and a few coaches have told him they would be calling July 1st. Here’s the thing, I am currently unemployed and scholarships/ financial aid will be the determining factor as to which school he goes to. He understands this and just wants to go to college and swim too. His grades are good, around 3.5 gpa with total SATs at 1975. He’s taken quite a number of AP and IB classes, his time in the 50 yard free is 20.79, etc.
I keep reading how you’re not supposed to discuss the money with coaches, but what if that’s the determining factor? How can you get that info across without actually stating it? Wouldn’t coaches want to know that so they don’t waste their time with you if the school can’t offer enough? It’s very sad for us that “the best deal wins”, and that we can’t be too picky, but such is our situation.
How have others handled the money question with coaches? Thank you for any insight.
Not exactly what you asked - but with his good grades and test scores combined with competitive swim times, make sure he’s also pursuing need-based financial aid schools, too. (Ivies, NESCAC, etc) His times may be strong enough to get him an admissions boost and given your current financial situation, the FA at some of the ‘need-based only’ schools may exceed any athletic $ he would get elsewhere.
There is no reason not to discuss money with coaches. Not sure where you heard that.
Be upfront with the coaches. Nothing wrong with saying exactly what you said here…"Here’s the thing, I am currently unemployed and scholarships/ financial aid will be the determining factor as to which school he goes to. He understands this and just wants to go to college and swim too. "
I’d just reinforce what varska says above. At many of these need-based financial aid (and academically very competitive) schools, you’d likely pay nothing or very little – whereas, in swimming, most (athletic) scholarships are partial and not particularly generous. Also, these schools will provide a first-rate education – markedly better than he might expect at the types of schools that would provide swimming scholarships (DIIs or lower DIs).
Given that, I’d encourage your son to focus on improving his GPA, and he should be planning to study and retake the SATs with a goal of 2100. Consider the upcoming October date – anything after that may be too late to help. Also, reach out to coaches immediately. His 50 Free time will turn heads – especially at the DIII level (NESCAC, for example). Consider, for example, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Pitzer, Carleton, Macalester, Grinnell, Connecticut College, etc. At many of these elite academic colleges, he’d e a swim star.
You can ask the coach, and you can ask FA. Need based financial aid might be better than athletic aid, and often is at big schools that give good need based aid like Stanford.
You also need to consider if the need based aid will still be there once you are reemployed. If you go back to making as much as you were before, will the need based aid at D3 schools still be the same? I was in the same position you are in, knowing my job was ending but still having assets and potential income that would knock us out of need based FA once a new job was found. For my daughter, what worked best was getting merit aid and athletic aid at a D2 school, and then for the unemployed time qualifying for federal FA (which can be combined with athletic aid).
You just have to try all kinds of combinations of need based, athletic, merit aid.
I agree with the above posters. D1 men’s swimming has 9.9 scholarships total and that is if they are fully funded which a lot of the small D1’s are not. Pay attention to how many names they have on their roster. If the team is only 20-25then he might get money his freshman year (maybe 10-20%) but if there are 40-50 guys on the team…maybe not. Unless he goes with a team that his 50 free is in the top 2 on the team. I would concentrate on the academic side but his scores need to increase with a 3.5 GPA.
Thank you everyone for your advice, I appreciate you all taking the time to respond.
Dreadpirit, I’ve read in different online forums that one should not discuss the money part of it until a good relationship has been established with the coach otherwise it could turn them off. I’m wondering if anyone has done that during that first conversation with a coach and how it went.
Swimdad, thank you for your suggestions. I will have him look at those schools as well as the NESCAC ones. The D1 schools that are interested in him are schools that are in no way the academic caliber of those you listed, so we’ll see how that goes.
It’s really not that difficult to bring up the subject of finances. Simply, “tell me how your scholarships work.” And then let the coach talk.
Some places my son looked at would have offered a combination of academic and athletic scholarship money so this is always an option. As well, the Ivy’s are extremely generous as mentioned by other posters above so it’s worth looking at those schools. He would need 2 SAT II’s for most Ivy’s and likely a bit higher SAT I score which he could do in the fall if there is interest.