Hating donut hole life: athletic recruiting version

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I hate not being rich right now. DC has athletic recruiting offers to some top SLAC schools, but they don't do athletic or merit scholarships. I ran the NPCs and we get zero financial aid at all of them, but they're just too expensive for us to pay full price.

Now DC has to either 1) go to lower ranked schools offering athletic/merit scholarships or 2) forego athletic recruitment and just apply EA to state schools or shot gun in regular decision in hopes of merit.

Tonight I have to tell DC that they can't go to either of the SLAC's that they really want and have offers to. And we're not prepared with essays because we spent oodles of time on recruiting on top of an intensive year round sports schedule.

I hope this serves as a cautionary tale for donut hole parents of younger athletic recruits. Don't waste your time on recruiting unless you can either pay full price, your kid is good enough to get a hefty scholarship at one of the few good schools that offers athletic scholarships *and wants to go to these larger schools*, or you qualify for significant FA.

Show us your NPC numbers. Where is your money going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, what you're saying is that families should understand the cost picture before they begin looking at colleges they can't afford.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I hate not being rich right now. DC has athletic recruiting offers to some top SLAC schools, but they don't do athletic or merit scholarships. I ran the NPCs and we get zero financial aid at all of them, but they're just too expensive for us to pay full price.

Now DC has to either 1) go to lower ranked schools offering athletic/merit scholarships or 2) forego athletic recruitment and just apply EA to state schools or shot gun in regular decision in hopes of merit.

Tonight I have to tell DC that they can't go to either of the SLAC's that they really want and have offers to. And we're not prepared with essays because we spent oodles of time on recruiting on top of an intensive year round sports schedule.

I hope this serves as a cautionary tale for donut hole parents of younger athletic recruits. Don't waste your time on recruiting unless you can either pay full price, your kid is good enough to get a hefty scholarship at one of the few good schools that offers athletic scholarships *and wants to go to these larger schools*, or you qualify for significant FA.

How did you not know this before you took your kid to these schools as options for them?

Fiscal responsibility is part of going to college.

[Anonymous]

I saved $10K/yr by not doing UMC sports, so I can afford tuition

[Anonymous]

There are also full pay families whose kids commit to colleges that are a couple tiers below where they could be a match academically, just to be able to play their sport at the college level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are also full pay families whose kids commit to colleges that are a couple tiers below where they could be a match academically, just to be able to play their sport at the college level.

We didn't set a goal of hobnobbing with rich kids in college.

[Anonymous]

this is why both of my kids went in-state VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a HS junior swimmer who has been practicing for about 20 hours a week for the first three years of high school.

Since he's good but not a superstar (Y nationals qualifier but not junior nationals qualifier), it's becoming clear that for him, swimming will actually be *limiting* his choices in college rather than giving him access.

Meaning: his times are good enough to get him into some ok DIII schools with no merit, but he could get into even better schools by not swimming and instead getting in on the merit of his grades and other extracurriculars.

Long story short: swimming in college had been a goal, but I think it's time to scale back and aim for club swim in college instead. And he's ok with that. It's actually kind of liberating!

Not mutually exclusive. My kid will be going to a great DIII that is known for swimming but she plays a different sport and was offered merit on her admissions pre-read. If you are being recruited, ask the coach and the AO who is the liaison for your kid's sport if that is an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I hate not being rich right now. DC has athletic recruiting offers to some top SLAC schools, but they don't do athletic or merit scholarships. I ran the NPCs and we get zero financial aid at all of them, but they're just too expensive for us to pay full price.

Now DC has to either 1) go to lower ranked schools offering athletic/merit scholarships or 2) forego athletic recruitment and just apply EA to state schools or shot gun in regular decision in hopes of merit.

Tonight I have to tell DC that they can't go to either of the SLAC's that they really want and have offers to. And we're not prepared with essays because we spent oodles of time on recruiting on top of an intensive year round sports schedule.

I hope this serves as a cautionary tale for donut hole parents of younger athletic recruits. Don't waste your time on recruiting unless you can either pay full price, your kid is good enough to get a hefty scholarship at one of the few good schools that offers athletic scholarships *and wants to go to these larger schools*, or you qualify for significant FA.

I honestly don’t understand parents thinking of sports so much in terms of how it helps college. Non revenue sports have so little money, and scholarships for revenue sports are difficult to get.

My kid wanted to play basketball at UNC, but the recruiting interest he got was the very lowest tier of D1, D3, and JuCo. It was hard for him to give up the dream of a high major conference athletic career, the the sport never factored in our thinking about his college choices as parents. We were pretty sure he wasn’t going to play at a high major D1 school, and we wouldn’t have let him attend weak(er) academic school. For that matter, I wouldn’t have wanted him at UNC because athletes seem pressured to focus 100% on sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I hate not being rich right now. DC has athletic recruiting offers to some top SLAC schools, but they don't do athletic or merit scholarships. I ran the NPCs and we get zero financial aid at all of them, but they're just too expensive for us to pay full price.

Now DC has to either 1) go to lower ranked schools offering athletic/merit scholarships or 2) forego athletic recruitment and just apply EA to state schools or shot gun in regular decision in hopes of merit.

Tonight I have to tell DC that they can't go to either of the SLAC's that they really want and have offers to. And we're not prepared with essays because we spent oodles of time on recruiting on top of an intensive year round sports schedule.

I hope this serves as a cautionary tale for donut hole parents of younger athletic recruits. Don't waste your time on recruiting unless you can either pay full price, your kid is good enough to get a hefty scholarship at one of the few good schools that offers athletic scholarships *and wants to go to these larger schools*, or you qualify for significant FA.

How did you not know this before you took your kid to these schools as options for them?

Fiscal responsibility is part of going to college.

This is unnecessarily nasty. OP is figuring out the game now - and the game definitely sucks for families in her position - and is warning others. Why do you feel need to jump down her throat?

[Anonymous]

I don't know what D3 schools are "acceptable" but there are a number of highly-ranked D3 schools that give out substantial merit:

Case Western
Washington & Lee
Brandeis (maybe not ranked highly enough for you)
Trinity (both in CT and TX)
CT College

There are others. The merit is not directly tied to the sport, but it is offered during the recruiting phase, so you know what you will receive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you not know that the two SLACs weren’t a possibility due to money even before the application? I mean, most of the athletic recruits I know had a good solid handle on the costs of the schools that were recruiting them and the scholarship possibilities.

FYI my kid told multiple coaches that they likely wouldn't qualify for any FA, but the coaches come back and say they hear that all the time but then the athlete ends up qualifying. So then you go down the rabbit hole of looking into opportunities at that school and it comes back nil.

This is before the application but after 3+ years of grinding out the workouts.

[Anonymous]

Really hard to feel sorry for people when the athletic hook doesn’t work for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I hate not being rich right now. DC has athletic recruiting offers to some top SLAC schools, but they don't do athletic or merit scholarships. I ran the NPCs and we get zero financial aid at all of them, but they're just too expensive for us to pay full price.

Now DC has to either 1) go to lower ranked schools offering athletic/merit scholarships or 2) forego athletic recruitment and just apply EA to state schools or shot gun in regular decision in hopes of merit.

Tonight I have to tell DC that they can't go to either of the SLAC's that they really want and have offers to. And we're not prepared with essays because we spent oodles of time on recruiting on top of an intensive year round sports schedule.

I hope this serves as a cautionary tale for donut hole parents of younger athletic recruits. Don't waste your time on recruiting unless you can either pay full price, your kid is good enough to get a hefty scholarship at one of the few good schools that offers athletic scholarships *and wants to go to these larger schools*, or you qualify for significant FA.

How did you not know this before you took your kid to these schools as options for them?

Fiscal responsibility is part of going to college.

This is unnecessarily nasty. OP is figuring out the game now - and the game definitely sucks for families in her position - and is warning others. Why do you feel need to jump down her throat?

I don't think that post was that nasty. I think it was a reality check. To your point, I think the OP is having the reality check on their own so the "I told you so" doesn't add a ton of value, but it is banging home the point for others.

The college process is very much about managing expectations. This is in terms of where they might get in. And it is in terms of where you will let them go. If it is relevant, set a budget and do the homework on scholarships before focusing on a school. If a school is likely to not be a real possibility, de-emphasize it. It isn't totally in your control, but you don't want your kid locking in on a school or worse yet getting into it then having to say no. The further in the process the kid has gone with the dream school, the harder it is for them when it becomes a no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a HS junior swimmer who has been practicing for about 20 hours a week for the first three years of high school.

Since he's good but not a superstar (Y nationals qualifier but not junior nationals qualifier), it's becoming clear that for him, swimming will actually be *limiting* his choices in college rather than giving him access.

Meaning: his times are good enough to get him into some ok DIII schools with no merit, but he could get into even better schools by not swimming and instead getting in on the merit of his grades and other extracurriculars.

Long story short: swimming in college had been a goal, but I think it's time to scale back and aim for club swim in college instead. And he's ok with that. It's actually kind of liberating!

This is pretty close to our situation too, though DC is considering some D3 schools with strong swim programs and strong but not elite academics. For our family’s situation, those schools will have a similar price as our in-state options.

If DC can get into UVA and do club then great. If not, he will probably go to D3 where he can get merit.

That said, I would not do anything differently. DC loves swimming, it has been incredible for his self esteem, self discipline, making friends, and giving back by becoming a coach/swim instructor.