BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) A Warning For Parents Who Think A Sports Scholarship Actually Covers Colleg

by Bob Cook, Forbes Magazine Contributor

Your child concentrated on one sport from an early age, you spent a lot of money to give him or her the best coaches and biggest advantages, and you did it — you beat the odds, and your child is one of the 2 percent of high school athletes that got an offer to play competitively at a college that offers athletic scholarships.

Guess what? You’re still paying big bucks to send your kid to college. NCAA rules, designed to spread talent more evenly across schools, limits scholarships for every sport, and except for a few sports (football, men’s and women’s basketball, notably), nobody gets a full ride from day one. Often they don’t even get that in year four.

And yet even though the information on scholarship limits is widely available, parents continue to find themselves shocked that the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars they spent on sports isn’t making a big dent in their college costs — that is, if they’re even lucky enough for their child to have survived the youth sports process uninjured and mentally unscathed.

I would highly recommend any sports parent — especially those who have younger children, and who have designs on them having a sports career — read this great piece in by Brad Wolverton in The Chronicle of Higher Education called “The Myth of the Sports Scholarship.” The piece concentrates on Allison Goldblatt, an Annadale, Va., native who showed great promise in swimming at an early age, and has concentrated on that sport since age 7. Now it’s time for her hard work to be rewarded with a scholarship. Except…

NCAA institutions treat athletic aid as a kind of coupon off the cost of college, rewarding athletes with the most value — including football and basketball players, whose sports bring in the most money — with the best deals.

Division I college swim teams, [Allison's coach, Pete] Morgan told his swimmers, are allowed to give the equivalent of 14 scholarships for women and 9.9 for men. Most college teams have about 30 female and 30 male swimmers.

Coaches typically give the most money to the swimmers with the potential to score the most points for their teams. That means that a dozen or more swimmers, Mr. Morgan said, often aren’t getting any money.

On any given team, Mr. Morgan told his group, the spectrum of aid can be vast.

“From books to full is probably how I’d put it,” he said. And in Allison’s sport, there are far more athletes on book scholarships, which can amount to a few hundred dollars, than full scholarships.

Wolverton followed Allison and her family as they talked to top programs, negotiating what kind of money they could get, which didn’t come close to the cost of school, assuming schools would even commit to a number, or even remember who she was and where she was from. As any parent seeking any scholarship — academic or athletic — knows, the process is difficult and demoralizing. And I know: I have a son who is sophomore at Ohio University, and a daughter who is planning to start next year at the University of Iowa.

I encourage you to read Wolverton’s story not as a knock on Allison and her parents, but as a cautionary tale on spending now with the assumption that scholarship money will come later. As always, if your child loves a sport and wants to spend a lot of time on it, and it doesn’t create an issue in your family, then go for it. But if you’re having your kid concentrate on a sport just for a scholarship, don’t.

You might be surprised — your child could get a pretty good scholarship following his or her own interests, picking a school that fits his or her needs. And I know: my son at Ohio is on a full-ride Army ROTC scholarship, and my daughter at Iowa, planning to major in microbiology and public health, already got the maximum scholarship you can receive for getting accepted. Hey, it’s my blog! I can brag! But what they both have in common is their pursuits can with no pushing from me — that, in fact, I understand them so little it’s best I stay out of the way.

Thanks Scope.. just wasted 2 'mins of my life reading that

[quote=Anonymous]Thanks Scope.. just wasted 2 'mins of my life reading that [/quote


Why so negative..:.

wasted 2 minutes of your life/
why would you say something so stupid?
the person who posted that article is doing a service. if you are in denial, that's on you.

Actually a good read and a very cautionary tail for those going thru the process today. The 2 minute time waster likely either in denial or one of the ones whose daughter got the offer for books or low percentage, but turned that into a full ride by the time he hit the sidelines or first cocktail party after she committed.

I totally doubt his/her kid got a full ride...while the "full" part is right, I would exchange the term, Full Ride to "Full of [lacrosse]"!!

someone that stupid probably can't even read much less read it in 2 minutes. whatta tool.

It took me 3 minutes

Take from it what you will
IMO definitely worth the few minutes it took to read

Well, I would say it depends on the Athelete, my son is getting most of tuition paid at a big 10, he would not be able to attend without the Athletic money. The kids I know who are going to Ivies are also are making out huge if the family salary is low enough, (under 200k)

My son will be getting 150k to play lacrosse at a school we would not be able to afford or be academically accepted too.
Do not really know why BTC would is writing this.

...and the name of that school is?

Since Lacrosse scholarships are divided up, even though this is an anonymous forum, it is frowned upon to discuss in detail which school, which kid , etc. my son has been running in the elite circuit of HS players for a few years now, and I can assure you all that a few boys are getting nearly a full ride,. But most decent players gets out 25% which Is considered a good lacrosse scholarship . I'm talking strictly athletic money. The Ivies give big need based grants which can also work well.

Anyone that gets .25 should be doing the happy dance. With rosters of 30-50 and with many programs not fully funded in using the allocated ncaa scholarship allotment there are many schools keeping teams and programs afloat with around 7 scholarships. Keep the grades up and hit the magic trigger scores on the sat and act. That is where most of the money is.

Everyone on this board thinks there kid is gods gift when in reality most are just good lacrosse players. Just because your club coach put you on the A team and blew smoke up your [lacrosse] doesn't mean a BS full ride is in your future. Throwing money at the sport does not equate to a big Scholarship offer. Good luck

And he's is going to post that, and tell the entire lacrosse community his son's deal, because Larry from BOTC told him to? LOL. Plenty of money out there for the right kid at the right school. Just because the average kid isn't getting it, doesn't mean it isn't out there.

time for your meds.

The goal should be getting your kids application stamped by coaching staff...any $$$ after the fact gravy!

Come on, a complete moron knows he won't post that info because his post is full of brown poo that comes out of a horse's [lacrosse].

You would be surprised how many parents try to pass off aid or academic $ as a sports scholarship. One dad was adamant that his son got a lacrosse scholarship to a D3 school...

Why would you want him at a school he is not academically qualified to be in? He will be set up for failure before he even begins. Being a college athlete is hard enough if you are a good match academically for a school but if his academics are sub par before starting, the struggle could be too much.

Clearly you have no idea what you're talking about. Ever here of the white boy syndrome? Plenty of them get denied to the top schools for that reason. They will do fine once they get in.

I just don't believe this guy. Do the math and it's not smelling right. Need more details if you're going to post that. What conference is this school? 150K? How much yearly? Percentage.? Not passing the smell test.

just another fraud

Cleary you have no idea. Use some damn common sense.

1) $150K, assume this is amortized across four years - so ~ $38K a year. Most D1 programs you're looking at upwards of a 50% ride. Either this kid is an absolute, locked down home run or ... well, you know.
2) There are no 4 year guaranteed scholarships. Non revenue sport. Renewed each year. If Johnny doesn't play up to potential, good luck getting that $38K next year.
3) Not qualified academically to get in to the school he will be attending. Let that sink in some. We're not talking raced based admissions; we're talking pure academics. If you're son gets into Duke but isn't in the academic ballpark -- good luck. This isn't football/basketball. There is no pot of gold at the end of the bench for 99.99% of lax players. Academics matter. Your son will have a full time job playing lax, and another one trying to catch up in the classroom. That is a scenario set up for disaster.

Hope you prepped your kid to work just as hard in the classroom as he does on the lacrosse field. Otherwise, you can kiss that scholarship goodbye.

You lie. Lacrosse generates more money for the schools and NCAA than all other sports combined.

Of course all kids get a full ride.

like the sarcasm. The national title game attendance has been dropping like a rock for 12 years in a row. It's close to just being family in the stands these days. A great lacrosse game has about 200 spectators

"Most D1 programs you're looking at upwards of a 50% ride. Either this kid is an absolute, locked down home run or ... well, you know."

How do you get to 50% ride for 40+ players with 12.6 scholarships, max????

true . you know that , very few if any schools charge admission to lax games. men or women. they would love to just have the student body support.
its fairly clear that it isn't a money generating activity.

Read it again. He's saying that IF the kid was getting 150K, it would be equal to more than 50%, which is highly unlikely (to put it mildly). He is disputing the original claim.

Pretty sure the original poster just threw that out there to spin everybody up - and it worked!

Excellent read. What I don't understand is all of the people who think that the travel teams are the only way to go for a scholarship. My kid plays travel because he is good at it and he enjoys it. We are on the same team since he started, many have come and gone, but the core group is there, and he has friends all over LI now. If your kid isn't on a wall every day, running 2 miles 3 days a week, and does stuff outside of lax, there is slim to no chance to be part of the 2% that gets to play at the highest level, much less get money for it. The money is in the academics. Pay for a tutor, take the SAT classes, and get good grades. Lax should just be another notch on the application to show a well rounded student.

It is not a lie He will be getting 150k to play lacrosse.
He will do fine academically, just because he would not be able to get in without lacrosse does not me he will struggle.
In addition, he was scholarship with most of his club teams, not all.
Team policy- if you are on team original scholarship is valid- only way to lose it is being cut from team for whatever reason.

Get ready to be absolutely crushed for that post dad!

I actually have a kid in a similar situation. We are talking elite game changing players. They are getting upward of 50% of total cost. The scholarships are guaranteed for all 4 years at Big 10 schools, that's in writing.

This is a great topic , Finally get the truth out. Parents reading this that's not educated on it must be spinning, lol. Now little Jonny that plays travel since 2nd grade @ $3000 a year with traveling hotels food prob more , all the private $50 an hour lessons , so your whole child's youth lacrosse program is around 50k plus ?? A good town team with good coaching and a 529 might be the way for me!!

My kid must be a stiff. Only getting 35%

529c is the best route for college hands down. Town team is not the best route for lacrosse unless you are lucky enough to win the town coach lotto jackpot. It happens but most of us are just dads trying to do the right thing by the kids not professional coaches. A few town teams have dads who are legit varsity/jv coaches and you'll know those ones immediately because they decimate every other team in their age group.

Any parent/family who is chasing Dollars vs Oppurtunity is delusional. We recognized (like many other parents on this board) early on that our child was an athlete. Although my son continues to play two other sports, Lacrosse was the sport we knew that he had any chance of playing at the next level. It is also the sport he enjoyed most and happens to be offered at the top academic universities. Thankfully, he is also a very good student, but let's be honest, his chances of getting into Duke, Princeton, Hopkins on academics alone are slim. Spending the "3k a yr plus travel" etc was a very calculated decision. The alumni network, the relationships, the experience and most of all the opportunities before and after college the sport of lacrosse offers our boys is the reason to spend the money. Not the potential of saving 15-20k a year on tuition. As a parent, of course we continue to encourage our son to study hard and hopefully he ultimately will have the grades to get into the school that he has "committed" to on academics as well.

good post. unfortunate that the target audience is, for the most part oblivious to any sound advice or input.

"We are talking elite game changing players"

That probably amounts to literally a handful of athletes per graduating year! Those athletes or their parents are not in need of advice on a BOTC fourm - please! For the 99.999% of all other players are just plain old elite, non of this applies, and you are back to 12.6 scholarships per 40+ players.

A lacrosse player with a 1400 SAT and top 5% HS GPA is most certainly capable of succeeding at any school in the country outside of maybe Caltech. Without lacrosse, however, this student has a zero percent chance of admittance to any of the non-Cornell Ivies, and pretty rough odds at the other top 25 schools.

Your third point (copied/pasted above) is bullsh*t for the vast majority of kids.