Fractional scholarships can complicate the decision making process...

[chinamigarden]

Posted this in another thread, but decided to add it to the recruiting forum.

Fractional scholarships can make finding the best fit more difficult. Would you rather go to an SEC school with a chance at playing in the WCWS or to a school with a better academic reputation, and a higher percentage of athletic/academic scholarship money? What if you knew some of the SEC schools pushed their players into specific majors to keep them eligible? What if the SEC school had 25+ girls on their roster, while the other school had less than 20 (NCAA limit is 20 players in the dugout)? Auburn had 10+ players sitting in the stands during the WCWS. If a school is bringing in 8+ recruits/class how many players are they "pushing out" every year? What are the chances your DD will finish her college career with a degree in a major that is in demand?

How much is a trip to the WCWS worth? In my example below, assuming a player stayed all 4 years at the same scholarship percentage, the difference out of pocket would be $96K dollars....

ABC school
$40K/year - tuition, books, lodging and meals
20% athletic scholarship
~ $32K out of pocket

XYZ school
$40K/year - tuition, books, lodging and meals
80% athletic scholarship
~ $8K out of pocket

The answer is dependent on the student's goals in life. What will her degree do for her? Does she even care about the degree or is it more about softball?

If your dd wants to go into early childhood development or communications, spending $96k extra out of pocket would be a poor choice. A job in those fields will take a long time to make up the difference in cost. Go to the school that will minimize her costs and will give her the time to play. If she wants to go into medical school or Engineering, she will need more time to study, but those jobs will make up that $96K in a couple of years. So the school with the smaller scholarship might be a better choice (assuming that she will have a little more time to study in the less successful SB school)

 

[JAD]

If your dd wants to go into early childhood development or communications, spending $96k extra out of pocket would be a poor choice. A job in those fields will take a long time to make up the difference in cost. Go to the school that will minimize her costs and will give her the time to play. If she wants to go into medical school or Engineering, she will need more time to study, but those jobs will make up that $96K in a couple of years. So the school with the smaller scholarship might be a better choice (assuming that she will have a little more time to study in the less successful SB school)

I agree with your logic about choosing a school, but in my example, the college that was "all about softball" was the one that only offered 20%. When you have 25+ girls on the roster the number of girls at 80% are few and far between. Here is an example I used in another thread.

12 freshman @ 25% = 3 scholarships
6 sophomores @ 50% = 3 scholarships
4 juniors @ 75% = 3 scholarships
3 seniors @ 100% = 3 scholarships

In this example I would expect some variation within classes. A freshman pitcher is probably getting a higher percentage than the other freshman.

25 players ~ 12 scholarships

 

[djcarter1966]

Honestly softball should really be a means to an end when you start talking about college. Realistically nobody is going pro and even then most pros have real jobs too, unless you go overseas and even then you are not getting rich you are getting by. What is your DD passion, again most 18 yr olds probably don't know but some do, barring that get the best education you can and the price you can afford (which should not be graduating with over $50K in student loans).

I have a close friend who's DS had D1 football full ride to either OU, Texas, Norte Dame or Standford. Of course he chose OU play for the championship loved the coach etc.(maybe even had pro dreams in the back of his mind), but after a red shirt year and freshman campaign the coach went on to recruit 2 JUCO players at his position on top of the of guy in front of him on the depth chart and basically told him you can stay but you won't start and be lucky to play punt team so now he had to sit a year and is hoping to play for Houston and hopes the NCAA gives him back his burned year of eligibility. I always wonder what would have happened if he chose Notre Dame or Standford; at those schools if you get the chance to stay and not start probably just stay and get the degree.

 

[JAD]

Honestly softball should really be a means to an end when you start talking about college. Realistically nobody is going pro and even then most pros have real jobs too, unless you go overseas and even then you are not getting rich you are getting by. What is your DD passion, again most 18 yr olds probably don't know but some do, barring that get the best education you can and the price you can afford (which should not be graduating with over $50K in student loans).

I have a close friend who's DS had D1 football full ride to either OU, Texas, Norte Dame or Standford. Of course he chose OU play for the championship loved the coach etc.(maybe even had pro dreams in the back of his mind), but after a red shirt year and freshman campaign the coach went on to recruit 2 JUCO players at his position on top of the of guy in front of him on the depth chart and basically told him you can stay but you won't start and be lucky to play punt team so now he had to sit a year and is hoping to play for Houston and hopes the NCAA gives him back his burned year of eligibility. I always wonder what would have happened if he chose Notre Dame or Standford; at those schools if you get the chance to stay and not start probably just stay and get the degree.

This nice thing about football is every scholarship is a full ride. Fractional scholarships significantly increases the difficulty of the decision making process, unless your DD is a bonafide STUD with multiple full ride offers...

 

[djcarter1966]

This nice thing about football is every scholarship is a full ride. Fractional scholarships significantly increases the difficulty of the decision making process, unless your DD is a bonafide STUD with multiple full ride offers...

True...although paying $32K out of pocket sure does not sound like much of a scholarship that's not even coming from out of state and getting in state rates, which you would hope would be the least they could do.

Granted sometimes it is the luck of the draw if you are in Texas, California or Florida your choices for in state schools will let you have lots of choices but if you are from a small or sparsely populated state your options are not quite as plentiful.

I think my goal would be to not spend more than in state tuition and room and board rates probably ~$25K/yr then hopefully between parents and summer jobs you could pay at least half but hopefully more as you go. Of course a lot of this depends on your situation I am assuming average middle class making too much to get grants and not enough to pay everything out of pocket which seems to be where most of us fall; I just cringe when I hear some of my workmates that have kids getting loans I know one kid is already over $100K and still has a year to go.

 

[Cobb_of_Fury]

Don't be afraid to look at DIII schools if they fit your academic needs -

NO - they don't offer scholarships but a lot of them will help structure grants and funding and such to make them competitive with Di and Dii schools - I have seem many cases where kids got better deals with Diii than D1 and Dii could offer.

 

[ScottyDont]

Has anyone had any success with state DIII schools finding them ways to get money? How did the coach and/or parents go about it? We have a DIII school with a lot of interest but the coach has basically said there's no money since it's a state funded school.

 

[marriard]

Has anyone had any success with state DIII schools finding them ways to get money? How did the coach and/or parents go about it? We have a DIII school with a lot of interest but the coach has basically said there's no money since it's a state funded school.

There is a great big thread on playing D3 softball, but the best advice I can give is that you don't just rely on the coach for financial advice for paying for the school. Go talk to the financial office at the school and they will give you a much clearer view of options/costs and other sources of money you may not be able to find easily.

Also there is almost always money if you within your home state that is independent of the college.

 

[MNDad]

Don't be afraid to look at DIII schools if they fit your academic needs -

NO - they don't offer scholarships but a lot of them will help structure grants and funding and such to make them competitive with Di and Dii schools - I have seem many cases where kids got better deals with Diii than D1 and Dii could offer.

How does that work? I don't know all the D3 rules, but doesnt aid to athletes have to be available to all the students just like D1?

 

[C.K]

For state schools yes, but private schools can get creative.