My daughter went on one official D1 track visit to school she wants to attend. Coaches are saying now they dont have scholarship money for hurdles this season and to come on as a walk on and if they have money in Spring they may be able to give her money
They told her she is a top pick for them. They have no 400m hurdlers in program and she is one. We are confused on what to say because we dont want her to loose spot but think if we say yes to walk on then no money. Help
I guess there are two questions. Can you afford the school without the scholarship? If not, then there really isn’t an issue; you can’t afford it. If you can afford it but just don’t think it is fair that she’ll get no scholarship, do you have other schools that will give her a scholarship? Is this going to be your best offer (a walk on spot)?
If the school isn’t offering her money, they can’t have her sign a NLI. I think you have to be honest and say “She really wants to go to your school, but we need scholarship money. She’s going to keep looking at ways to make your school work (financial aid, merit scholarships, loans) but she’s also going to keep looking for athletic scholarships.”
The money ‘in the Spring’ would be for the next school year.
The entire team is almost all instate and we aren’t. We will have to take loans out. I just think the email was confusing saying they dont have money for hurdlers but something could open up this Spring. She is faster then kids on team now.
Each NCAA D1 track program gets a max of 18 scholarships to hand out to women track outdoor, track indoor, throwers, jumpers, hurdlers, and cross country runners. They split those 18 up as they see fit, and if they have lots of athletes then that money can get split up pretty fast. And that is assuming that the school/program fully funds all 18 scholarships. They have no NCAA obligation to do so. You might want to ask whether the school does fully fund all 18. If they fund less than that, then the the likelihood of your daughter seeing much scholarship money is diminished accordingly. I hope she gets the money she needs! Good luck!
My son is engaged in this now and from everything I could gather, the coach is trying to field a team for the least amount of money. If he can get your D to come for free then job well done for him. He is saying money might turn up but that is a hollow comment and you should totally disregard it. Remember that these scholarships are single year only and need to be re-upped each year. Many are not because they think the student will stay anyways so lets use the money to entice a new freshman. If the school is not affordable then you should walk away. Sports end eventually. For some it is HS. For others it is college. Very few go on and make a living at it. Even less in T&F.
Good luck.
We picked this school because it is affordable and weren’t expecting a lot in scholarship money and didn’t want the pressure anyways for her to run all 4 years. I just think she deserves the signing day and some money as she is already running D1 times and is faster then most girls on the team now. I think they do have some money and would love us to accept walk on now so they can go onto the next top athlete. She has been accepted into the school and I guess can decide to be walk-on at the end of track season if they don’t come up with any money?
Since they aren’t offering a scholarship, I’d keep looking for a school that will. The walk on spot will still be there. As Sam-I-am said, any track scholarship might be very small, but the experience of signing an NLI and getting a little bit of money can be a big deal.
At my daughter’s high school, they did allow every athlete a ‘signing’ moment. In April they had a signing day event and everyone who wanted to got to sit on the stage and ‘sign’. Several had already signed in Nov (including my daughter), a few were going to D3 schools, one to Navy, two or three to junior or community colleges. No one cared that officially they weren’t signing a NLI. They pretended to sign, they got a picture, they had a celebration table in the lobby with cake and balloons in the college colors.
Agreed. In our HS it is a big deal also. But wasn’t there a NLI day in Feb recently that was the deadline to sign for D1 spots?
Feb signing is football and soccer. Other sports have early signing in Nov, and regular signing in April.
Ah. ok. Yes, it was a female soccer player. That makes sense. Thank you.
So would all fall sports be the same with a Feb deadline? Would XC be a Feb deadline?
XC and track have an early signing period on November and then a regular signing in the spring. As @twoinanddone says, the spring one must be April. @MassDaD68, for XC and track, your child should hope for an excellent spring track season during the junior year since that season’s times will be used by most college running coaches to evaluate and recruit distance runners.
Yes but I was curious as to the deadline to sign the NLI. Does the NCAA set up different dated for different seasons? It would seem they do. XC is fall, indoor track is winter like basketball, and T&F is spring.
Not different sport seasons, but different sports. They all, except football, soccer and men’s water polo, have an early signing period of 1 week in Nov., then there is a dead period until April. You early sign in November or you wait until April. Other sports can’t sign in Feb with football/soccer.
http://www.nationalletter.org/signingDates/
High school kids in spring sports often only have thru their junior year to show skills, especially if they want to sign in Nov.
My daughter was a recruited track athlete and signed her NLI in November with a D1 school. Here is what I figured out during the long process: Just because schools have 18 scholarships to give out, it doesn’t mean that every track program is fully funded by their school. Let’s face it, track is not a revenue sport. We were shocked by some low-ball offers some schools gave our daughter when she clearly would have been a star athlete on their team. Fact of the matter is, they didn’t have a fully funded program. Also, while her times may stack up well for the that particular team, most schools our daughter took official visits to based their scholarship offers on if she would earn points for the team in the conference outdoor meet. So, see where she stacks up against last year’s conference meet results in the 400H.
It’s kind of a crap shoot. You could test the waters with other teams/coaches who are finishing putting teams together. Now might be a good time to do that, since most Indoor Conference meets are this weekend. Then there is a tiny lull before outdoor meets start. You might find a coach where she fits in perfectly! An offer of walk-on status is nerve-wracking, no doubt…because you simply don’t know what it means. Can the coach give any concrete times that would earn your child money? Good luck. Let me know if you have questions…we learned a lot!
So I have read there is a difference between recruited walkon and walkon. They paid for her official visit and said she will get money once money opens up. A coach wouldn’t lie would they? She would be only 400mH that with her times now could score points freshman year. Would they know in April? Isnt annual svholarsjip contracts up in July?
I don’t think there is much difference between recruited walkon and walkon in a non-headcount sport. If it is a headcount sport and the student has an official visit, then that student is a recruited walkon and certain financial aid rules apply.
The July 1 date is for current students. The school has to let them know if they are receiving money for the next year by that date. Most schools let them know by May, and then the student commit to the next year. That may open up some money for your daughter, but may not.
As to whether a school would lie…I don’t think they think they are lying. They’ve said they’d let her have money (how much?) when some opens up. Well, does that mean ‘hurdler’ money, or ‘runner’ money, or any track money? If you find out a pole vaulter is suddenly getting money, will you feel you’ve been lied to? It’s very easy to have a communication breakdown when talking money.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with specifically asking the coach what ‘when money opens up’ means. Does it mean freshman year, or will no money open up this year? Say “I need to understand what it means. Can you perhaps tell me how it has worked with other athletes in the past? Is there an amount freshmen typically get, or a minimum, or a maximum?” My daughter talked sports, I talked money.
I was very timid when my daughter started looking at schools. “Well, we have to weigh it against merit…” “It’s all up to financial aid office” (D3 school, but the coach wouldn’t even talk about it or direct me who to talk to). Finally, one coach said “I don’t give money to freshman.” THAT I understood (and we dropped the school). So at other schools I was very specific. I needed to know the dollars or if they weren’t going to give anything. Look at the size of the team and how many are splitting the scholarships. In my daughter’s sport, there are 9.9 scholarships (if fully funded). Some teams have 35+ players, others have about 20. Big difference.
Momofsprinter17 – You need to have a hard conversation with your daughter and ask her what she is looking for before you walk away for the possibility of money elsewhere. Track big dollars are hard to come by, and when they are offered, larger dollars come with larger pressures. As others have pointed out, most track dollars are one-year renewable terms. My son is a D1 track athlete and was told by one very well ranked team’s head coach that he never gives money to freshman and then he also never gives money for more than one year at a time. If you want to train with him and be part of a nationally ranked, winning team, you will go there regardless (he did not go there!)
So what is she looking for, a competitive, winning team, where she may be the 2nd or 3rd best or a lower tier D1 that lets her be the star and travel to every meet? Both are very different experiences and knowing where she will thrive is key to finding the right fit, regardless of the dollars. What type of school/program is this? You don’t want her to go to a school that you can only afford with athletic money only to have her hate it.
It is very possible that the coach that is interested in your daughter is being honest, wants her for the program, but is choosing to spend dollars elsewhere. Even though she may be posting times better than other athletes on the team, see how she will do in the conference (look at tfrrs.org). There are many events that have one or two schools with rosters so strong (several international transfers, Olympic caliber, etc.) in a given event in a conference, that other coaches do not even bother trying to get someone for their team. That may be why there are no other hurdlers. Is she competitive against the other schools this university competes against? Also make sure that there is a coach for the hurdlers. Check if her times are competitive for the 400 (without hurdles) if so, remind the coach that he will be getting a strong leg for his 4x400 relay team (assuming that is the case). Is she quick enough to place in a strong conference from day one (SEC, ACC, Pac12, etc.)? Be realistic about how good an athlete she is.
You need to ask the coach if there is any type of tryout or if her roster spot is set. (Most D1 schools have tryouts, even if they are only for show, but the coach will tell you if she will be trying out or not) Is she going to be on the team, but not on the traveling roster, if so, is she ok with that?
Right now it sounds like you have an acceptance and team spot in hand with no commitment on either side. You can take that, send in whatever deposit money to hold her place in the class and continue to investigate options. Make sure that you are not letting the desire to sit at a table for photos and a “signing” influence your decision. You need to find the right fit both academically and athletically.
Share with the coach if it isn’t the money, but more of a principle that she gets/signs an NLI, maybe he can award books and/or fees. Many schools do this so that can brag about having all of their athletes on scholarship. My son was also offered in state tuition at one D1 school, even though we live in another state. Technically that was an academic scholarship, but you can ask if the coach has any influence.
My son is at his second D1 school, (he transferred) and we have gone through recruiting twice. Same student, same athletic performance, but no two schools offers where the same. He is very competitive in his event, but did not get any significant athletic dollars offered from any school he actually had a desire to attend and when he transferred, his recruiting calls and discussions continued up until about a week before fall classes started.
Hang in there, it is a rough and stressful process and you want the best for your daughter, let us know what happens!