ORIGINAL DATE:
04/16/2008 09:20:31 AM
Do you have a high school senior that is
devastated that he or she got a small scholarship at that expensive
NCAA-Division I team you dreamed of all through high school. The coach
promised you the moon if you'd consider the team. You walked away
thinking you'd gotten the "free ride" of your dreams. But
instead you got a tiny, partial-tuition scholarship. Or maybe they simply
waived the out-of-state tuition at that famous Pac-10 school in the state next
door. What's going on?
I
just talked with a football player who got a 20% tuition-only scholarship of
$5,000 which means his parents still face a bill of $20,000 per
year. And because the student sacrificed grades and testing to his sport,
he really can't qualify for anything more. The player was one of the best
in the league so . . . WHAT HAPPENED????? The family did everything they"thought" was the right thing.
They are now thinking that the coach "lied", or the system is
"rigged" or that other player got a "free ride" that should
have gone to their kid.
Take
a deep breath because as you'll learn in this blog, if this your student - you
did nothing wrong! Your student athlete did nothing wrong.
The athletic “free ride” for most students is a
myth. They simply didn't know what they should have done to control the
results!
So
for you high school juniors on the brink of being able to be recruited - read
on! You can learn a lot about taking control of your destiny and getting
the money you want!
Virtually
EVERYTHING that parents think they know about athletic scholarships is
absolutely dead wrong. Families
nationwide are working hard for something that "the "system"
tells them exists. But NOT in the form
they think! So I want to clarify
how NCAA scholarships REALLY works when it comes to paying for college!
The
New York Times has reviewed 2003-4 N.C.A.A. data for the 138,216 athletes who received athletic aid in
Division I and Division II schools and they then did interviews with college
coaches to get THE REAL story about athletic scholarships. If you
understand how the system works, you are well on your way to getting the most
athletic dollars you can to pay for college!!
MYTH
# 1 – The number of Athletic Scholarships: In 2003-4, N.C.A.A. institutions gave
athletic scholarships to just 2% of the 6.4 million athletes playing those same
sports in high school four years earlier. Even in football or basketball - the
two “glamour” or “revenue sports” - the average N.C.A.A. athletic scholarship
is only $8,707. While that
sounds small, it means half the students get more, the rest get less. For
“nonrevenue sports” like baseball or track and field, the NCAA average is ~$2,000
per year. Based on percentages, the typical athletic sponsorship is about 15%
of tuition! So if tuition is $20,000,
your athlete can expect $3,000!
Why
are the numbers so low? This is because the coach gets 5 to 10 "full
rides" to distribute over 15 to 30 students! So they need to decide how little they can
give your student and still have them show up. The coaches generally end
up giving 1 or 2 full rides and the balance in partials of 5 to 15% and
sometimes NOTHING! You need to understand this process to take control of
positioning your athlete to qualify for the most money. The more
desirable they are the more they may get.
NOTE
- There are NO scholarships for athletics at the Ivy League schools!
These schools provide money based only on need. So if you know a student who got a scholarship and is
going to play sports at one of these schools it may "look"
like a sports scholarship but it isn't!
Myth
# 2 – Helps Get You Into A Popular College: This myth says that even if you don’t get
all the money you want, being an athlete MAY still give your student an
advantage when applying to college. Good
news is this myth does have credibility. But being an athlete is best when combined
with good grades and test scores. Unless
your student is “blue chip” – Olympic or professional level – the colleges
still needs good grades -- although maybe not as high as a non-athlete. The NCAA has set higher standards for grade
point averages and graduation rates for teams. These new standards have reduced the chances that just being a good
athlete will make up for being a poor student.
Myth
# 3 – The Scholarship Lasts for Four Years: The commitment to their sport means students
often take the minimum number of college course units because of the overwhelming
number of hours spent in games, practice, travel and gym time to stay fit. This can mean 5 years to graduate. Plus it means stress and less "fun"
at college. So it is now more and more
common for second-year and third- year
athletes to drop their sport and thus, lose their sports scholarships. AND THIS MEANS MOM AND DAD pick up the full
cost of college! So make sure your student knows how to keep their balance
between sports and college life. And decide to attend a college with the
potential you may lose the scholarship.
Despite
common references in news media reports, there is no such thing as a four-year
scholarship. All NCAA athletic
scholarships must be renewed every year and are not guaranteed. Nearly every
scholarship can be canceled for almost any reason in any year. And if the athlete can’t or won't play, they
lose the scholarships. Just make sure you can afford the college without
a sports scholarship.
If
you are a parent of an athlete, let them ENJOY their sport without the pressure
to get the "free ride" that doesn't exist for 99% of student
athletes. Decide right now that if your student gets athletic money,
great! But we recommend you still
prepare to pay for college the “old fashioned” way – by lots of little steps
called PLANNING. If you don't know
where to start, visit
www.CollegeLeadershipFoundation.org to learn about their College eCoaching Club
to maximize your chances of winning the student athlete admissions and
scholarship game!