Sports Scholarship Article

I came across this article, The Myth of the Sports Scholarship. This is the best article I have read to date that covers the realities vs the fantasies of getting a sports scholarship. Although it covers the story of a swimmer it still applies to the softball athlete as both aren't considered money making sports for their prospective schools. It's a little long but worth the read. Take the article at face value and try not to dissect it too much.

The Myth of the Sports Scholarship

mj1569 said:

I came across this article, The Myth of the Sports Scholarship. This is the best article I have read to date that covers the realities vs the fantasies of getting a sports scholarship. Although it covers the story of a swimmer it still applies to the softball athlete as both aren't considered money making sports for their prospective schools. It's a little long but worth the read. Take the article at face value and try not to dissect it too much.

The Myth of the Sports Scholarship

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So, her parents spent over $10K per year to "save" $20K at a $60K a year school?

After all the years of swimming, great school work, and insane wake-up times, they'll still pay $40K a year to send their daughter to a school on the other side of the country? What will she major in while fulfilling the requirements of her "scholarship"?

There isn't a solid $20-30K a year school somewhere on the east coast?

I don't get it...at all.

That was a really interesting article. While swimming and softball are two VERY different sports, the realities of the athletic scholarships are universal. Honestly, it makes me kind of thankful (in a weird maybe counter-intuitive way) that my daughter is strictly looking at DIII so doesn't have to play these kinds of games for athletic money.

Strike2 said:

So, her parents spent over $10K per year to "save" $20K at a $60K a year school?

After all the years of swimming, great school work, and insane wake-up times, they'll still pay $40K a year to send their daughter to a school on the other side of the country? What will she major in while fulfilling the requirements of her "scholarship"?

There isn't a solid $20-30K a year school somewhere on the east coast?

I don't get it...at all.

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Virginia Tech 21K for tuition and room and board for in-state and she already had a 30% offer there.

"Allison was trying to be realistic about her potential. She had just come off a shoulder injury, which had sidelined her for 10 months, and she was concerned about making a full recovery. Just before the meeting with Mr. Morgan, she made a verbal commitment to attend Virginia Tech.
While the Hokies compete in a major Division I conference, Allison had been aiming higher. And Virginia Tech had offered her a scholarship that would cover only 30 percent of her costs."

55dad said:

Virginia Tech 21K for tuition and room and board for in-state and she already had a 30% offer there.

"Allison was trying to be realistic about her potential. She had just come off a shoulder injury, which had sidelined her for 10 months, and she was concerned about making a full recovery. Just before the meeting with Mr. Morgan, she made a verbal commitment to attend Virginia Tech.
While the Hokies compete in a major Division I conference, Allison had been aiming higher. And Virginia Tech had offered her a scholarship that would cover only 30 percent of her costs."

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Yep, and when she thought her injury wasn't a problem any more, she reneged.

Instead of going to VT for $15K (or even less with merit-based money), her parents will now shell out $40K. I've seen close friends make similar decisions that turned out even worse financially. I guess UCLA carries more cachet than VT...her parents will pay $100K + over four years for that.

Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see anything in the article about her academic goals. Many seem to lose sight of that while trying to squeeze some type of return on their sizable youth sports investment.

Strike2 said:

Yep, and when she thought her injury wasn't a problem any more, she reneged.

Instead of going to VT for $15K (or even less with merit-based money), her parents will now shell out $40K. I've seen close friends make similar decisions that turned out even worse financially. I guess UCLA carries more cachet than VT...her parents will pay $100K + over four years for that.

Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see anything in the article about her academic goals. Many seem to lose sight of that while trying to squeeze some type of return on their sizable youth sports investment.

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They need a "Discuss Swimming" message board where folks can talk about all this stuff! I am not sure that this girl was a good example for the article since her parents can apparently afford to shell out some serious cash for her to go to UCLA.

Strike2 said:

Yep, and when she thought her injury wasn't a problem any more, she reneged.

Instead of going to VT for $15K (or even less with merit-based money), her parents will now shell out $40K. I've seen close friends make similar decisions that turned out even worse financially. I guess UCLA carries more cachet than VT...her parents will pay $100K + over four years for that.

Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see anything in the article about her academic goals. Many seem to lose sight of that while trying to squeeze some type of return on their sizable youth sports investment.

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Not knowledgeable of swimming. But I can imagine a softball player going to a top 5 softball school and pay more to play there rather then a lesser div 1 school with a much smaller chance of a national championship.

let it be fun said:

They need a "Discuss Swimming" message board where folks can talk about all this stuff! I am not sure that this girl was a good example for the article since her parents can apparently afford to shell out some serious cash for her to go to UCLA.

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Actually this applies. There are similarities between her situation with the costs of competitive swimming and a competitive travel ball player and the costs her family accrues hoping their DD gets that scholarship to Dream U. It also does not matter if it's swimming or softball, the way athletic scholarships are handled is the same. The intention of this post was to give folks some realistic information about how athletic scholarships work. While I don't know the family in the article I can assume that their daughter swimming at a top swimming school was very important to them, no matter the cost. Just like some folks think that D1 is the only option for their DD when it comes to softball. Can they get a cheaper education if they stay closer to home or take the D3 scholarship that covers half or more of their tuition? My guess is yes but parents as well as kids get sucked into the dream that it has to be a major D1 no matter the cost. Those folks are also the ones that think their kid is going to get that "full ride".

chinamigarden said:

Not knowledgeable of swimming. But I can imagine a softball player going to a top 5 softball school and pay more to play there rather then a lesser div 1 school with a much smaller chance of a national championship.

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The point of this has absolutely nothing to do with swimming. Funny how some latch onto that. It's amazing what some prioritize, and might willingly pay tens of thousands of dollars for. When it's all said and done, it's just a game that our kids played. They'll put it away on graduation day, and the other stuff they did (or didn't do) in school will suddenly become very important.

mj1569 said:

Actually this applies. There are similarities between her situation with the costs of competitive swimming and a competitive travel ball player and the costs her family accrues hoping their DD gets that scholarship to Dream U. It also does not matter if it's swimming or softball, the way athletic scholarships are handled is the same. The intention of this post was to give folks some realistic information about how athletic scholarships work. While I don't know the family in the article I can assume that their daughter swimming at a top swimming school was very important to them, no matter the cost. Just like some folks think that D1 is the only option for their DD when it comes to softball. Can they get a cheaper education if they stay closer to home or take the D3 scholarship that covers half or more of their tuition? My guess is yes but parents as well as kids get sucked into the dream that it has to be a major D1 no matter the cost. Those folks are also the ones that think their kid is going to get that "full ride".

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I think the article is great and apparently the parents thought more money was out there in swimming. The fact that the article was about swimming has nothing to do with why I think this family was not a good example. The "discuss swimming" remark was supposed to be humorous but also a sideways shot at the parents for not doing some research. Apparently I am not funny... What I was trying to say is that using a family that chose to spend the money on swimming (and apparently has it) might not be the best way to illustrate the point. If they are taking out $40K/year in loans to chase the dream at UCLA that is one thing. If they are able to pay it, good for them. I know quite a few kids whose parents pay to send them to whatever private school or out-of-state school they want to go to regardless of sports and can afford to just pay for it. The girl told the college coach that money was not the issue (may or may not be true but apparently was). If this family has mortgaged their home and mom/dad took a second job etc... just to pay for swimming and now they are sending her to UCLA on student loans, I think it would be a much better illustration of the cost and the insanity. That's all. It also appears as if this girl is a really good swimmer and UCLA wants her. Maybe there are Olympic dreams on her mind.

If she truly has a shot at being an elite swimmer, there is a better school out there (I don't know about UCLA vs VT for swimming), and mom and dad can afford it, why not? Why should anyone judge what they do and talk about getting "sucked into" the dream? The point of the article was to illustrate that when it comes to non-revenue sports there is a lot less money out there than people think. Like I said, I personally think that the story would have been illustrated better by a family that doesn't have as much to spend. Of course, the story will be entirely different if she goes to UCLA and ends up making the Olympic team.

I don't understand the potshots at D1. Why is a family somehow screwed up if they are supporting their DD who wants to play D1 softball or swim at a higher level? In this case, this girl is truly good enough to swim at the highest levels. Why should she stay close to home and swim D3?