Would it be common for NAIA athletic programs to give money to help recruit students to the school more than to the team to help increase enrollment? She was hoping to be able to make the team and didn't expect any type of offer. She was offered about 10% of what full tuition would have been but with her academic scholarships, the athletic ended up covering about 1/3 of what was left to pay. The scholarship would make this college the cheapest of those that she has interest in, so I'm not really sure if the why matters but I'm still confused since they are limited in the amount of scholarship money they have. Would this be something that colleges commonly do?
NAIA scholarship question
- Thread starter Lugnuts
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- Jan 22, 2011
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I’m curious about this as well. From a conversation over the summer with a coach who was at a small NAIA school it sounded like he was encouraged to carry a large roster to ge students enrolled at the school,
This is what we heard from a D3 coach as well. I know they don't give athletic money but just saying he was encouraged to offer more softball spots so they can get more kids enrolled
That is part of the problem though, I was having a hard time determining what the college that offered goal was and didn't mean to lump all NAIA schools together. Just wanted to see if that is a strategy that some might use.
They play a JV schedule and have around 30 on the roster, so I'm leaning towards the goal is to increase enrollment. Not saying that is actually a bad thing, she'd still get to be on a team, play some JV games more than likely, and helped keep tuition down. Just took me by surprise at first and want to make sure she bases her decision on where she goes with this at least being a possibility.
Yes, they often use athletics and other extracurricular activities to recruit students. Some people have a negative view of this and I don't understand the idea behind that. They do typically divide their athletic scholarships in 10-40% increments and give more academic scholarships than some schools. In some NAIA schools as many as 80% of students are on an athletic or other extracurricular team. Many of them have JV teams (which again, I view as a plus). I think to some degree it's fair to evaluate their offer and their interest in a player based on the athletic scholarship %, but in some cases they won't allow the total scholarship (athletic plus academic) to go over a certain % so that may not always apply for a student receiving large academic scholarships. As you're probably aware, the quality of NAIA teams varies wildly from teams that would struggle to compete in juco conferences to those that would compete well in D2 or lower D1 conferences.
Thanks, this was helpful. The softball team has been very good over the last 5 years and was originally expecting her not to be able to make the team potentially. She seems mostly focused on an academic/college environment fit but getting to continue to be involved with softball is a big plus. This might not have been an option if they didn't have a JV team and accepted additional players that they typically wouldn't recruit for the main team.
- Jul 4, 2013
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Also, note that NAIA scholarships count a little differently than NCAA. If your DD has a strong academic record, 50 to even 100% of her athletic money may not count against the schools 10 total scholarships. So they may have higher interest in an academically excellent student.
Not understanding this. How does offering athletic scholarship money not count against the 10 total scholarships at NAIA schools?
Did you mean that NAIA schools can offer academic money and the academic money does not count against the 10 athletic scholarships? Many D1 schools can give both academic and athletic scholarship money to the same player.
- Jul 4, 2013
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From the NAIA page:
"Each sport has an overall limit on the amount of financial aid it can award to students who will compete in varsity contests in that sport. For example, the overall limit in baseball is 12 full grant equivalencies (total value of cost of attendance including tuition, room and board, books, fees and supplies). Financial aid can be awarded to any number of baseball student-athletes (for example, 1 full grant equivalency, 10 half grant equivalencies and 24 quarter grant equivalencies) as long as the combined total does not exceed the total amount of 12 full grant equivalencies.
Financial aid awarded to academically gifted students can be exempted from these limits if the student meets academic criteria established by the NAIA. Aid to students who play at the junior varsity level or who do not compete in varsity contests does not count in the overall limits."
From a practical perspective and my daughter's experience, her coach has 10 athletic scholarships to give. My daughter gets academic and athletic money. Because her GPA is above 3.6, her athletic money does not count toward her school's 10 scholarships to give. NAIA only counts players on the varsity squad toward the 10. And on the varsity squad, you don't count athletic scholarships for students over 3.6 gpa toward the 10. At the next tier of GPA which I believe is 3.0-3.6, they only count 50% of the athletic scholarship money toward the 10 total that are allowed.
"Each sport has an overall limit on the amount of financial aid it can award to students who will compete in varsity contests in that sport. For example, the overall limit in baseball is 12 full grant equivalencies (total value of cost of attendance including tuition, room and board, books, fees and supplies). Financial aid can be awarded to any number of baseball student-athletes (for example, 1 full grant equivalency, 10 half grant equivalencies and 24 quarter grant equivalencies) as long as the combined total does not exceed the total amount of 12 full grant equivalencies.
Financial aid awarded to academically gifted students can be exempted from these limits if the student meets academic criteria established by the NAIA. Aid to students who play at the junior varsity level or who do not compete in varsity contests does not count in the overall limits."
From a practical perspective and my daughter's experience, her coach has 10 athletic scholarships to give. My daughter gets academic and athletic money. Because her GPA is above 3.6, her athletic money does not count toward her school's 10 scholarships to give. NAIA only counts players on the varsity squad toward the 10. And on the varsity squad, you don't count athletic scholarships for students over 3.6 gpa toward the 10. At the next tier of GPA which I believe is 3.0-3.6, they only count 50% of the athletic scholarship money toward the 10 total that are allowed.
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