The Myth of the Sports Scholarship

Athletic Recruits
101

Below are total funds granted by various institutions for need-based, academic/other merit, and non need-based athletic scholarships.
Source: 2015-16 (or most recent available) Common Data Set section H for each school.

Need-Based … Merit … Athletic … School
$286,951,107 $6,961,981 $7,768,892 UCLA
$176,440,595 $5,138,238 $0 Harvard
$169,480,573 $21,650,471 $389,814 TAMU
$158,711,813 $77,017,809 $18,780,386 TOSU
$144,165,756 $7,001,479 $17,036,565 Stanford
$136,295,309 $75,864,987 $19,216,540 Michigan-AnnArbor
$116,369,344 $16,645,416 $13,635,387 Duke
$103,136,000 $2,000,000 $6,000,000 Georgetown
$86,283,301 $10,219,371 $9,290,490 Villanova
$83,059,256 $123,068,758 $10,775,135 Alabama
$58,462,039 $32,163,180 $8,555,412 Nebraska
$47,007,336 $1,041,615 $0 Williams
$38,579,208 $361,249 $2,708,150 Prairie View A&M

So far, I haven’t found any colleges that award more in athletic scholarships than they do in need-based aid.
Some schools do award more in athletic scholarships than they do in academic/other merit aid.

At the Ivies and peer schools (Stanford, MIT etc.) the income ceiling for need-based aid is rather high.
I just ran a net price calculation for MIT, assuming $110K family income, no siblings, no home equity, $55K in financial assets. The estimated net price (after need-based aid) is less than $23K.
Even with a family income of $200K and $100K in cash assets, the estimated need-based grant aid is over $19K and the net price is about $46K.

$200K, or even $110K, is far above the median family income in the USA. About 60 colleges (including MIT) claim to cover 100% of demonstrated financial need. So although I wouldn’t say sports scholarships are a “myth”, I’d say most good students from middle income (or even upper middle income) families seem to have a much better shot at significant need-based aid than they do at big athletic scholarships. Many of those ~60 schools grant virtually no athletic OR merit scholarships (aside from maybe a few specialized endowed scholarships.)

102

My son turned down generous need-based offers at two Ivies, and committed to a school several tiers down, that is giving him a combination of athletic and need based money. We have received nothing from the school’s financial aid office – only an e-mail from the coach, prior to acceptance, stating that they would cover up to 99 percent of his costs, if he doesn’t get sufficient need -based aid from the university. He agreed to tie the funding for his education to his athletic performance, when he had in writing, on letterhead from two Ivies, an incredible financial aid package, that came with no conditions. I think he’s naive, but he is convinced he’s made the right choice and is not open to any other opinions. What if the money isn’t there?

103

@Sculla - If the financial package is better, he is better walking on at the two Ivy’s.

104

He was offered likely letters/spots on both teams and was a top recruit for both – the FA was because we qualify for need-based aid. There is a very thorough vetting process for FA, at the Ivies, which requires disclosing a lot of financial information prior to submitting your application, and the offers are detailed, with costs/responsibilities clearly outlined. The other school, also D1, asked us to fill out a two page form, that didn’t ask for much. The coach said he’d meet the Ivy offers – my son used them as leverage, and he sent an e-mail with a breakdown that isn’t based on any concrete understanding of our finances. it’s hard to believe an e-mail from a coach has the same weight as something on letterhead from a university. He assured us his e-mail was a binding, however, if there’s a glitch revealed after January, application deadlines will have passed. Am I worrying without cause?

105

I think you should be worried. I thought athletic aid couldn’t be combined with need-based aid, so how is the coach promising both?

106

@sculla

Do you mean athletic and merit money or is the need based money not from the school? If he has the grades and scores to get into an Ivy, he may well get merit money from another D1 school. Pell, SEOG, state need based money is okay, but I don’t see how your son can get need based money from the school unless the team is going to count it against the team max (and if that’s the case, why not just call it athletic money?).

107

He was told by members of the team that he wouldn’t get any athletic money, because it’s reserved for international recruits, however, he worked the situation, and kept getting the coaches to up the amount of money – .they have now said they will cover him up to 99 percent with athletic aid, in case he doesn’t get a Pell Grant, or whatever federal aid they assume he will qualify for. In the e-mail estimate we received, they said he’d also be getting a need-based grant of 32K or so. When he received his acceptance letter, it included nothing about finances, this is why I’m worried. His grades are excellent, but he had a rocky freshman and sophomore year. ACT is competitive, especially for someone who didn’t study at all. I will call the financial aid office tomorrow and see if they can enlighten me. I was not in favor of this decision, and most of the adults in his life, including his coach agree, we all urged him to accept one of the other offers, but he wants to go to this school, and has no one can convince him otherwise.

108

Trying to figure out if he’s buying into the “myth” of the sports scholarship…

109

@Sculla Did he receive a National Letter of Intent last month? If it is a D1 school that is promising FA, it would have been outlined on the NLI. There is another signing week in April, but frankly, I would be a tad nervous at this point if the specifics of an NLI had not been discussed. I agree with @Zinhead, sounds like he would be better off at one of the Ivies, especially if he was offered a Likely Letter.

110

It sounds like he is NOT signing and getting an athletic scholarship. That may mean he can take the merit and need based aid. Schools should know how to do the reporting.

Only the athletic money is on the Grant in Aid that accompanies the NLI. There is nothing on there about other aid.

111

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

We both signed a commitment letter on Oct, 27 2016, and sent it back to the head coach. There was nothing about money in the letter. This is a D1 school that is not an Ivy.

This afternoon, I called, and subsequently corresponded via e-mail with the financial aid person that handles my son’s sport. She informed me they need more information about my finances in order to come up with a financial aid package, and said the numbers and breakdown we received from the coach in October were “estimates.” I anticipated all this, and yet I have been sidelined from most of this process by my son, who thinks I am trying to manipulate him into going to one of the ivies, however, if I don’t intervene now and make sure he is protected, he could end up not having a college to attend.

It has been difficult to get anything concrete in writing from this school regarding funding – the other schools were very thorough, and direct about what they needed from us throughout the entire recruiting process – the coaches and the financial aid offices communicated with each other and were on top of everything, all the required documents were submitted, all their questions about our finances answered well before the early decision application deadline. The offers my son received from these schools were beyond generous, enviable, and rendered me speechless. To watch your child pass on an opportunity to attend a top tier school at a fraction of its cost, and chase a school who is consistently vague about what they can offer is nothing if not challenging. If this is how they approach recruitment, I don’t foresee enrollment (if we ever get there) and future financial arrangements becoming easier.

Hopefully the college counselor at my son’s school will help us get through this. I am not a worrier by nature, but I think it’s naive to assume the funds will be there, without anything in writing.

112

I don’t know what kind of commitment you signed in October, but it wasn’t an National Letter of Intent (NLI) as that would have been in Nov., and an NLI must be accompanied by a Grant in Aid (athletic scholarship). You said he isn’t getting any athletic money so no NLI.

It sounds like it is an experienced coach who is good at recruiting, at shuffling his funds and getting the school to give financial aid to other students. A friend’s son just gave up the Air Force Academy for a much lower ranked school. He picked what he wanted. Your son did too.

113

I know that D1, D2, NAIA, Prep Schools, and Junior Colleges give MAJORITY of the athletic scholarships. The best thing for athletes to do is focus on academics first because at the end of the day that’s why college is for and also let’s say a D2 schools offers a partial and you have half paid through academics then that’s pretty much a full ride.

If a player wants to be recruited to college coaches then they need to expose themselves. Under Recruited Preps is a service that helps athletes through the athletic recruiting process getting them seen by college coaches. Check them out UnderRecruitedPreps.com

The post above said “according to the NCAA, 150,000 division 1 and 2 student athletes receive over 2.7 billion in scholarships…not including 180,000 division 3 student athletes that receive some form of academic grant or need-based scholarship.” which is true not even including those other levels.