Sports Scholarships May Be Not What You Hope

P

Perham1

2,500+ Posts
... for your kids.

If you think Chip or Buffy, or since we're in Texas, Bubba or Norma Sue, will haul down some big college scholarship dollars (fill in the blank: hitting a baseball, striking a soccer ball, lacrosse anyone?) you may be in for a surprise. Especially if you're spending $10k a year on junior's sports betterment.

Excluding the glamour sports of football and basketball, the average N.C.A.A. athletic scholarship is nowhere near a full ride, amounting to $8,707. In sports like baseball or track and field, the number is routinely as low as $2,000.

I thought there was a lot of karma going on when the coach rejected a player because the father was a jerk.
The Link

The moral of this story: read to your kids. Academics is more important than sports in this context.
 
My oldest daughter was on a high level soccer team. High level. From the time we started the team, parents were talking about scholarships. 18 girls on the team....all were offered some money...only 2 were offered full rides, and they were to schools the girls didn't want to attend. The girls who were offered by out-of-state by schools; their money covered OOS tuition, and that was about it. If they had stayed in state (Georgia) they would have gotten a $3 per year Hope scholarship, just for keeping a B average.

Most sports RARELY offer full scholarships, outside of football and basketball. All other sports will split their money, especially on the boys side, due to title 9. I don't remember the exact numbers but I think NCAA Div 1 soccer on the men's side has about 9 scholarships; girls have 12. They divide those nine (or 12) scholarships among all of their players.

Have your kids play sports for the fun, entertainment, pride, and self-esteem, but if you are counting on scholarship cash, you are a fool.

Plus, there is another factor, especially for girls. EVERY girl on my daughter's team was offered some money. Only 2 girls signed to play, for essentially book money. And they went to schools where they really didn't want to go, other than that was the school that offered them money to play. Most girls play for the fun and social aspect, even on very high level teams. My daughter was essentially offered a scholarship that would have paid for about 1/2 of her college expenses. She told me she didn't want to play if she couldn't play with her club teammates. She said it wouldn't be any fun since she had no bond with the college teammates. If we had made her take it, she would have been miserable and would have probably quit soccer, and probably school, in that first year.
 
that's the average. "sports like baseball and track and field" bring down the average. no surprise there. however, if this is a PSA to young parents that have kids with no athletic talent, i believe the point will be lost. why? well, that is for another time.
 
follow up article also from the NYTimes regarding athletic scholarships
It's not an Adventure, it's a job

I'm sure many of y'all will get a chuckle out of this quote

They also said others share a common misperception that athletes lead a privileged existence.

“You know, maybe if you’re a scholarship football player at Oklahoma, everything is taken care of for you,” Tim Poydenis, a scholarship baseball player at Villanova, said.
 
I had several D-1 scholarships (none of which I accepted) but my parents never ever did any of the insane "training" that I hear about these days.
 
This is, and always has been, a business deal.

Football and basketball players get full rides not only because of NCAA rules (which, as we know, are rules schools make up among themselves), but also because that's where the benefit for the schools is.

Soccer, swimming, track, etc., don't feed the marketer.
 
kindof off topic, but does anyone know if Stanford gives out a higher % of full scholly's or if some of the teams are endowed? They field so many teams that are good.
 
Baseball scholies in particular have always had to be creatively carved up. And it's only gotten worse. Thanks NCAA.
 
Go look at the story posted On The Field regarding the Clemson running back who took in and raised his brother from foster homes. Ray Ray, you remember him and his story, right?

His scholly got pulled due to depth chart issues.
 
Wow! I had no idea they cut it up so bad. Kind of makes my plan look pretty good. I was in the Army National Guard for niine years and when my boys turn 15 or 16, I am planning to put the two plans in front of them.

Either a. plan on getting a bunch of scholarships AND go deep into debt or
b. enlist into the Texas Army National Guard. If you do it right a student can come out of college with a large amount of savings and no debt.

There are several things to do of course, and you still owe the Guard 8 years of part-time duty after college, but considering the fact that you have the chance to never be in debt, I think it is worth considering. As an ROTC cadet, a soldier is non-deployable.

Of course, there is that extremely small percentage of National Guard soldiers that actually do get hurt or killed in Iraq, but then there is a small percentage of 18-22 year olds who get hurt or killed in general.
 
I don't understand. I thought that Title IX or whatever it is required schools to offer an equal number of men's and women's scholarships. Since football alone gives out 85 full rides, why is it that a women's soccer team or whatever has to dole them out in such small pieces?
 
I have 5-year old twin boys. I've had both their right arms in a sling for the last 18 months. I told them to tell people they fell off the trampoline. By now they have almost completed the change to left-handers. A few years with a top-notch pitching coach and I'll retire on easy street...
 
my brother and sister in law are grooming their 5 year old son for a sports scholarship since they don't want to pay for it. it is so sad that parents depend on their kids for THEIR OWN financial benefit. support your kid's activities the best you can but make sure academics are first. i just don't know how this concept slips past so many people.
 
Instead of focusing on sports, a much more likely way to get a full ride at college is to go for the National Merit Scholarships.

I would just get a bunch of practice tests and have them work on those for a couple of years straight before the 11th grade. If they get above a certain score, its an automatic full ride at a bunch of colleges, regardless of their high school GPA or other stuff they do.

Of course, the top colleges wont pay for a full ride (none of hte Ivies give national merit scholarships) but a lot of good colleges will and its a much better game plan and much more likely to succeed than going for an athletic scholarship.

P.S. For girls going after athletic scholarships is much more high yield. There are a lot of colleges that have to beg women off the street to take scholarships for stuff like lacrosse or rowing.
 
but a scholarship to tech, OU, or even Okie Lite is lot better than a scholarship to play soccer at southwest missouri episcipal college.. it's great that you took a partial scholarship to UT, but many kids would rather go to a slightly less prestigious university if it is costing them nothing.

now i know you will focus on the "slightly less" portion of my post, but for undergrad it is true.
 
Don't scholarship athletes (even partials) receive the benefit of not having to qualify under regular admission rules?

Take a whiz-bang tennis player who is just outside the Top 10% of his/her class and who may not gain admission to Texas (or other equally prestigous schools) as a regular applicant. If they are offered a partial scholarship, they would be admitted, wouldn't they?
 
At UT, it's been some time. I know for sure that Tech, OU and Tulsa offer full rides. A&M offers about a half. Texas is down to a quarter or so.

But if you wanted to go to the Ivy League or MIT, that would get you a hearty congratulation. They don't have to give NMS money to get students, and so they don't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top