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Scholarship shell game Olympic sport 'rides' won't come close to paying bill by BUCK CARGAL HuddleUpTexas.com -- Originally posted: April 8, 2008 An athletic scholarship. It's the Golden Egg that will pay for your child's college education. Well, think again. Despite the growing emphasis on youth sports, and the proliferation of online services to promote your child toward an athletic scholarship -- at a substantial fee -- baseball, soccer, swimming or any other "Olympic sport" (outside of football, basketball and ice hockey) is not going to pay for your child's college education. Most likely, it won't even come close. “The youth sports culture is overly aggressive, and while the opportunity for an athletic scholarship is not trivial, it’s easy for the opportunity to be overexaggerated by parents and advisers,” NCAA President Myles Brand, told the New York Times in a recent interview. “That can skew behavior and, based on the numbers, lead to unrealistic expectations.” In the 2003-04 academic year, 138,216 student-athletes received financial aid (i.e., scholarship money) in all sports for NCAA Division I and II. That's about 2 percent of the students that were playing those sports in high school at the turn of the century. The average "scholarship" amounted to $10,409 for the full year, according to a March 10, 2008, New York Times article. That pales in comparison to the average tuition and room and board costs for an NCAA school, which range from about $20,000 upwards to as high as $50,000. (And, that's not counting books, fees and board.) Take out football and basketball, which offer the most scholarships on any level, and the average scholarship in 2003-04 drops by almost $2,000. "Non-revenue sports" -- those other than football and basketball -- can have scholarships as small as $2,000 a year. Ice hockey was the exception to the rule in 2003-04. According to the New York Times, the average men's scholarship was $21,755, and the average women's scholarship was $20,540. Both of those outranked both football and basketball. The lowest average scholarship, according to the Times, for men was riflery ($3,608), followed by baseball ($5,806). The lowest average for women was bowling ($4,899). A scholarship is a scholarship, is a scholarship. Or so the promotional services would have folks believe. It is if your child is a certified star football, basketball or hockey player. A scholarship for a Division I-A (FBS) football player is likely to be a "full ride" for tuition and room and board. (Keep in mind, that even those scholarships are not four-year guarantees; they must be renewed by the head coach from year to year.) But in other sports, scholarships are pies. Pies get sliced up into several pieces. Soccer is a youth sport that is notorious for "select" and "traveling" youth teams. Parents spend big money for their kids to be on select teams. Almost everyone on select teams has the expectation -- or, at least, belief -- that it will pay off in a college scholarship years down the road. However, the NCAA limits Division I soccer teams to a total of 9.9 scholarships each year for a roster of about 22 players. That's right, less than 10! And, don't be confused by thinking that's 9.9 new scholarships each season. That's 9.9 total in any given season. The next season, those 9.9 scholarships can -- and will -- be redistributed. But, the 9.9 limit stays in place. Do the math. That's less than half a scholarship for each player -- if the scholarships are divided evenly, and if the school decides to fully fund the maximum number of allowable scholarships. "Pie" scholarships are never divided equally, and a large number of schools do not fund the maximum allowable scholarships in all of its Olympic sports. It's not uncommon for a Division I school to fund half the maximum allowable scholarships in a given "non-revenue" sport. Men's soccer is a dying sport in Division I, as several schools -- including North Texas and TCU -- have dropped the sport as they try to balance budgets and comply with Title IX gender equity mandates. Many of the remaining Division I schools do not even fund the full 9.9 allowable scholarships for men's soccer. Baseball is another youth sport that is known for "select" and "travelling" teams, another sport in which parents spend many dollars under the belief that it will pay off in a "full ride" scholarship. The NCAA Division I limit for baseball scholarships is 11.7 a year. Division I baseball rosters hover around the 35-player mark. That's less than a one-third scholarship per player -- if divided equally. Coaches make scholarship decisions based on the perceived worth of a particular player. Year-to-year renewals -- increases and/or decreases in the scholarship amount -- are based upon the same principals. Welcome to the real world, college student-athlete. Just like in the office, discension and disgruntlement grows between players of differing scholarship level. “I dropped a good player because her dad was a jerk — all he ever talked to me about was scholarship money,” Villanova field hockey head coach Joanie Milhous told the New York Times. “I don’t need that in my program. I recruit good, ethical parents as much as good, talented kids because, in the end, there’s a connection between the two. “I tell parents of recruits I have eight scholarships, and they say, ‘Wow! Eight a year?! That’s great!’ And I say, ‘No, eight over four or five years of recruits. And I’ve got 22 girls on our team.’ The fact is I’ve got girls getting from $2,000 to $20,000, and it all has to add up to eight scholarships. It’s very subjective. And remember, what I get to give out is also determined by how many seniors I’ve got leaving.” The numbers don't get any better as you go down the classification ladder. NCAA Division I is the highest-funded athletic classification, followed by NCAA Division II. Each university has the right to determine the sports it sponsor, and the level of their sponsorship. NCAA Division III has no athletic aid (scholarships). The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) sponsors fewer sports, and at lower scholarship levels than the NCAA. The National Junior College Collegiate Athletic Association (NJCAA), which governs all junior college athletics outside California, has three divisions, based on scholarship levels. Division I is for full tuition and room and board; Division II is for full tuition only; and Division III is for schools that do not offer athletic scholarships. Scholarship athletes -- regardless of the level of aid they receive -- are, in effect, employees of the university athletic departments. To keep their scholarships, student-athletes must show devotion and commitment -- early-morning meetings and practices, extra practices, more conditioning, performance -- while also being expected to maintain their academic rating. Scholarship athletes are extremely limited in their job options during the school year, both because of time and NCAA rules. Sport commitments can also interfere with the student-athlete's desired class schedule. Yet, these are generally considered to be "pampered" or "priviliged" by receiving athletic-based financial assistance for their education. “Kids who have worked their whole life trying to get a scholarship think the hard part is over when they get the college money,” Villanova senior baseball player Tim Poydenis, told the Times. “They don’t know that it’s a whole new monster when you get here. Yes, all the hard work paid off. And now you have to work harder.” Poydenis is on a $3,000 scholarship for the 2007-08 school year. That's roughly 10 percent of a full year's tuition at Villanova -- before books, fees, room and board. Texas high school football Spend some time in the journalism field, and it's easy to see: -- A parent jumps on the high school coach, because their child isn't being showcased enough to win a scholarship. -- Parent pushes child down a particular sports path, spending big money at the parent's goal of an athletic scholarship. -- Or, the parent pushes their child so hard, past the point that kid continues to enjoy the sport. There's a fine line somewhere in between. It's not the job of a high school coach to "train" a kid to be a college athlete. It is the duty of the high school coach should be proactive in helping his/her deserving seniors find a way to play at the collegiate level. But ultimately, it does fall to the kid, and the kid's parents. Yes, there is some self promotion that has to be involved. Contacting college coaches -- and most "non-revenue" sport coaches have direct e-mail contacts on their schools' sites. Small-budget sports havemicroscopic recruiting budgets. With some time -- and at a lot less expense than what some will charge -- a family can get an all-important foot in the door with college coaches. Even in football, there are not scouts at every game. Fact is, scouts attend a small percentage of games. Big performances at the key times can make all the difference. Just being on a "select" team guarantees nothing. For those that are determined to pay for education -- in whole or in part -- through "non-revenue" sports, they have to be prepared for what lies ahead. Know the scholarship limitations beforehand, so that you won't be disappointed. Look for the right situation, not just the money. Look for ways to piece-meal your educational expenses -- like small scholarships through national and regional organizations for your sport. And, most importantly, never underestimate the power of academics. “The real opportunity is taking advantage of how eager institutions are to reward good students,” Brand said to the Times. “In America’s colleges, there is a system of discounting for academic achievement. Most people with good academic records aren’t paying full sticker price. "We don’t want people to stop playing sports; it’s good for them. But the best opportunity available is to try to improve one’s academic qualifications.” |
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