<p>If I'm reading correctly, families don't know their FA until after admission decisions are made so applying EA can be risky without this information.
But, the same must be true when they sign a NLI, correct? So, they know the amount of any athletic scholarship, but not FA?</p>
<p>Early action is not binding… So. No disadvantages with fa … Early decision is a different story… Unless you can proof that financial aid is insufficient you are stuck</p>
<p>No, this is not correct. Ask the coach to arrange a financial pre-read with FA office (and academic pre-read as well) and ask about athletic and merit scholarships and how everything plays together. You should get a clear picture regarding attendance costs so that your athlete can make an informed decision before committing and applying. FA forms for next year are usually available shortly after July 1st of the previous year. All D1 programs that we dealt with had this service.</p>
<p>Thank you. Yes, I meant ED.</p>
<p>We have been told at several schools that you can’t get both athletic aid and financial aid. They want you to get the financial aid pre-read so they know if they need to use athletic aid for you. So far it has been a frustrating experience for us, especially since my S has divorced parents so it is not a simple matter of running the calculator. He doesnt need a lot of money but he does need some for the priciest schools. There is not a lot of athletic money for his sport to begin with at the schools that give it. It is as if he doesn’t quite fit anywhere. Would be top in the conference for nescac and other smaller conferences including Ivy. But grades and academic index are borderline so he is not in the first group for Ivies I believe, although we have heard from coaches, just no invites yet. Have only been told no on one admissions pre-read (non ivy non nescac) at a school where he would have easily broken 3 school records right away. It just happens to be the only school that gave my older son signicant financial aid when he applied a few years ago but did not go. Merit aid or public would probably be the best bet at this point but he wants to go out of state and it is hard to know if he will get merit aid anywhere. I can’t wait until this is over.</p>
<p>“Early decision is a different story… Unless you can proof that financial aid is insufficient you are stuck”</p>
<p>No proof is necessary; if you feel it’s not enough, you can decline the ED offer without consequence; here’s the rule:
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>According to NCAA compliance officer at my kid’s school, she could take the athletic scholarship offered to her, but not also the merit scholarship. Loans would have been fine, but D also was offered a grant. Not an Ivy, but a Div 1 school. </p>
<p>It can be very confusing and yes, you may not know the exact aid package until well after signing the NLI - if you do take the athletic money. </p>
<p>In D’s case, she signed in Nov and 5 or 6 months later was offered a bigger scholarship on academic… so turned down the athletic money since it was only a one year offer and merit was offered for up to four.</p>
<p>Samurai. I don’t think you are correct. Unless rules have changed, athletic scholarships can be stacked with merit scholarships (so long as the merit is available on equal terms with non-athletic students). Merit scholarships can be stacked with FA. The University’s FA cannot be stacked with athletic scholarships under most circumstances (but there are exceptions - see below). Because it is in the coach’s interest to minimize the use of athletic scholarships (so the athletic money can get more athletes), the coach will (should) be tuned in to all possible combinations. I know players who got more in FA than what had been offered in athletic scholarships; I know players who got merit + athletic. I believe that only pure FA grants cannot be stacked. Other forms of FA (work study, loans) are not effected (again, so long as the athlete is getting what is available to all other students).</p>
<p>The rules are really confusing - especially since what we refer to as athletic scholarships is referred to as a grant-in-aid in NCAA rules. I also found indications that Pell Grants can be stacked with athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>I’m still looking for a definitive clear answer under current rules.</p>
<p>I found this on the NCAA website. Like so much of what the NCAA writes, it is ambiguously clear: “Can student-athletes receive other non-athletics financial aid? Yes. Thousands of student-athletes benefit from academic scholarships, NCAA financial aid programs such as the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund and need-based aid such as Federal Pell Grants. Student-athletes and parents should check with their schools athletics department or financial aid office regarding permissible sources of financial aid.”</p>
<p>^ I think you’re correct, stemit. I spent (wasted) a lot of time wading through the NCAA publications on the subject and it’s hard to find a clear answer. But the spirit of the rule seems to be, </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Its not fair for a wealthier school with more need-based FA available to be able to bring on more athletes than their D1 counterparts. So you take the athletic money, or the institutions need-based money, but not both.</p></li>
<li><p>Stacking academic merit money with athletic money is ok as long as the merit scholarship has a defined level of performance that must me met (test scores, gpa, etc) and it’s available to all students.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The rules are always changing, but that’s how I understand them - but do your own research to confirm</p>
<p>I think stemit and varska are correct</p>
<p>Here are some of the NCAA regulations:</p>
<p>15.1 Maximum Limit on Financial Aidindividual.
A student-athlete shall not be eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics if he or she receives financial aid that exceeds the value of the cost of attendance as defined in Bylaw 15.02.2. A student-athlete may receive institutional financial aid based on athletics ability (per Bylaw 15.02.4.1) and educational expenses awarded per Bylaw 15.2.6.4 up to the value of a full grant-in-aid, plus any other financial aid up to the cost of attendance. (See Bylaws 15.01.6.1, 16.3, 16.4 and 16.12.) (Revised: 4/29/04 effective 8/1/04, 5/26/09, 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)</p>
<p>You can’t receive more Aid then it cost to attend the school.</p>
<p>15.1.1 exception for Pell grant. A student-athlete who receives a Pell Grant may receive financial aid equivalent to the limitation set forth in Bylaw 15.1 or the value of a full grant-in-aid plus the Pell Grant, whichever is greater. (Adopted: 4/29/04 effective 8/1/04)</p>
<p>An athlete can use Pell grants.</p>
<p>15.5 Maximum institutional grant-in-Aid Limitations by sport. </p>
<p>15.5.1 Counters. A student-athlete shall be a counter and included in the maximum awards limitations set forth in this bylaw under the following conditions: (Revised: 6/10/04, 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11) </p>
<p>“Maximum award limit” and “an institutions equivalency computation” (see below) is the NCAA term for maximum number of “equivalent” scholarships.</p>
<p>15.5.1.1 No Athletics AidCertification Required. A student-athlete [except for a recruited football or basketball student-athlete (per Bylaw 15.02.8)] who does not receive athletically related financial aid per Bylaw 15.5.1-(a) or 15.5.1-(b) but receives institutional financial aid (as set forth in Bylaw 15.02.4.1) shall not be a counter if the faculty athletics representative and the director of financial aid have certified that the student athletes financial aid was granted without regard in any degree to athletics ability. The certification shall be kept on file in the office of the athletics director.</p>
<p>15.5.2.2.1 Academic Honor AwardsBased on High School Record. Academic honor awards that are part of an institutions normal arrangements for academic scholarships, based solely on the recipients high school record and awarded independently of athletics interests and in amounts consistent with the pattern of all such awards made by institutions, are exempt from an institutions equivalency computation, provided the recipient was ranked in the upper 10 percent of the high school graduating class or achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.500 (based on a maximum of 4.000) or a minimum ACT sum score of 105 or a minimum SAT score of 1200 (critical reading and math). (Adopted: 1/12/99 effective 8/1/99, Revised: 1/14/08 effective 8/1/08, 1/16/10 effective 8/1/10)</p>
<p>15.5.3.2.2.3 Institutional Academic Scholarships. Institutional academic scholarships that are part of an institutions normal arrangements for academic scholarships, based solely on the recipients academic record at the certifying institution, awarded independently of athletics interests and in amounts consistent with the pattern of all such awards made by the institution, are exempt from an institutions equivalency computation, provided the recipient has completed at least one academic year of full-time enrollment at the certifying institution and has achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.000 (on a 4.000 scale) at the certifying institution. (Adopted: 10/27/05 effective 8/1/06, Revised: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)</p>
<p>Both of these statements indicate that if academic aid is given by the school, and this aid does not take into account athletic ability, then this aid does not count against the NCAA limit on maximum amount of athletic scholarship aid per sport. Also note that this is only a partial listing of the regulations and some sports have specific exemptions.</p>
<p>In my D’s situation, she did not receive more FA than COA. </p>
<p>The athletic scholarship was less than the academic scholarship. </p>
<p>In addition, there were student federal loans, including a Perkins. </p>
<p>I was surprised when compliance officer called us - because my impression was that you were allowed both, if eligible, and that it did not exceed cost of attendance. The person we spoke with was in charge of compliance for this school, and told us in the past before some rule changes, a student would get a nominal athletic scholarship and then months later, additional aid would come in based on students need, but would have to turn down the additional scholarship. </p>
<p>She said that the way they do it now at the university is to wait and see what final aid package is to give the best FA to student. </p>
<p>We were told at time of this phone call that if daughter opted to take the merit scholarship, that she needed to sign a form that they sent electronically, to basically reneg the NLI. We were assured she would still have a spot in team, but that the money could them be redistributed by coach, and that technically, she could opt to go to another university because not bound by NLI. </p>
<p>This all happened around early May of D’s senior year. </p>
<p>As for the NCAA rules, they are enormously confusing - but this really threw us for a loop. </p>
<p>Whether it was an additional rule about that particular academic scholarship she was granted not being allowed to stack with athletic, or the fact that an additional grant was also available, I have no idea. I am just happy we have less to pay each year and that as long as D does the work in classroom, she gets this scholarship. </p>
<p>The interesting thing thing about FA for athletes is that you might not know exactly what you are signing up for when committing to university. For us, signed in Nov and didn’t have a true idea about cost out if pocket until May. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>Also see below - D was in upper 10% of graduating class, over a 4.0 and well over the ACT sum scores. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>One possible explanation for all of this is that although the NCAA limits the maximum amount of athletic scholarship money that can be offered for a particular sport, the athlete department may have a limited budget. If this was the case then the a sport may not be funded to the NCAA maximum. The athletic department may have decided that if a student is offered academic money the athletic aid would be reduced which would allow the coach to offer scholarships to other athletes. If a NLI has already been signed then a request for release must be initiated by the NLI signee by submitting the NLI Release Request online. I am not sure what would happen if the athlete refused to sign the NLI release. In any case the NCAA rules seem to indicate that the academic money can be added to athletic money.</p>
<p>That is possible, swimkidsdad. It may not have been an NCAA rule, but about the department budget.</p>
<p>Glad I asked. I didn’t know that you couldn’t receive athletic and financial aid. I suspect our FA would exceed any athletic. How do so many athletics give verbal commitments so early? Do they also go through an FA pre-read at that time? We know several who’ve verbally committed early and are not in positions to pay even 1/2 the tuition of the schools they commit to. Of course we don’t know everyone’s financial situation, but it’s not too much of a stretch to assume as much given our particular community. Parents don’t talk about this so I really don’t know what to expect. Does it make sense to come right out and tell a coach “This is how much we can afford.”</p>
<p>NJ - Financial offers are made available to the athlete and family via the Financial Aid office. So, two answers: 1) athletes who make early verbal commitments have already been in touch with the FA office and have early FA reads in writing. This differs from scholarship offers that cannot be in writing until NLI day. 2) It does make sense to ask the coach for a FA contact and meeting so that you can ask the FA office what they will offer. (I never think it makes sense to come right out and tell anyone anything). If you ask what the FA can offer, you can then let them know where that puts you.</p>
<p>CSS Profile has this nice question:
Amount the students parent(s) think they will be able to pay for the students 2014-15 college expenses? so you will have to put something there:)
Our sport is a headcount sport. One partially funded program was talking to us about specifically stacking athletic aid on top of need-based aid so it might be possible in some situations.</p>
<p>We had one coach tell us that the only school that stacks aid is Stanford. But he may not really know. I asked another coach point blank if they do the financial aid pre read to see if they need to “waste” athletic aid on a recruit, and they replied you’ve got it. So it is a question worth asking when you meet with coaches.</p>
<p>We had no FA pre-read as a recruit before the NLI. I sent in CSS PROFILE in October. D’s prospective school wouldn’t do a pre-read for recruits. I spoke with a financial aid officer who said at that time that there is nothing they could do, but that we would have to do the net price calculator. As an out of state student looking to attend a public university that doesn’t offer 100% need to OSS’ers, this was distressing. </p>
<p>Ivies generally do pre-reads for FA. </p>
<p>D did discuss FA with coach, but he said he didn’t handle that and directed her to Fin Aid office.</p>
<p>Stanford doesn’t stack aid, at least in S’s sport. We were told it’s either athletic or need-based. The coach will figure out what’s the best approach for each athlete with the attempt to maximize the impact of the budget and the aid for each recruit.</p>
<p>My S now has a small offer of athletic aid at a D1 school supposedly for 4 years, which I thought they did not offer. But the coach also told him to talk to the financial aid office to see if we can get more. So this is still very confusing.</p>