Anonymous
03/30/2014 23:00
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Parents are quick to tell other parents that their recruited child received a college scholarship. This can mean anything. It might be $1,000.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:59
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Anonymous wrote:Also note, athletic scholarships are for one year only and must be renewed each year. Get hurt? There goes your scholarship.
Not true for me. They usually sign a contract that states otherwise. They can't drop you because you get injured.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:58
Subject: Re:If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Great question & topic!
I will tell you what I've come to discover:
Unless your child is a PHENOMENAL athlete, all the hours of training, early mornings, long trips and tons of money are a WASTE! Schools do not throw their money behind mediocre athletes. You child would be better off focusing on making good grades.
Now, if your child happens to love the sport and they're involved simply for the love, that's great! But if the goal is scholarship money, that does not happen unless the child is TOP NOTCH! Any college counselor will tell you that.
Same PP here.
Just wanted to add my impression of the college athlete. When I was in school (on academic scholarship) I remember feeling badly for the athletes who were basically slaves to the school we attended. They didn't have all the freedoms I did. While I was able to hang out with friends and do whatever I wanted, they were in mandated study halls at certain hours, then they had to eat together, live together, practice for hours on end, etc...I was dating an athlete and had to wonder at the time if the sacrifice was worth it and how much more of the FUN part of the college experience he would've had if he'd gotten an academic scholarship or had parents pay out of pocket.
So you play sports and hit the books for 4 years. Where's the fun in that?
And as a PP said, do NOT put all eggs in one basket.
And another perspective: I LOVED playing a sport in college. I wasn't the type to get hammered 3 days a week so it worked out for me. And we never had mandated studying or eating together or living together. My teammates and experience playing in college made it so much richer to me.
But the point is, your child should play a sport because they enjoy it and they want to. If they get a scholarship, that's icing on the cake.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:52
Subject: Re:If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Your student better LOVE their sport in college because it is a full time job.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:47
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Full ride scholarships are generally available only for division 1 football (85 scholarships per school), men's basketball (13), and women's basketball (15), tennis (8), gymnastics (12), and volleyball (12). That's it. Under NCAA rules, no other sports require full ride scholarships. Instead, the other sports are "equivalency" sports, with the limits set at total scholarships equal to x full ride scholarships. So, for example, division 1 women's field hockey can have 12 equivalency scholarships. A coach is free to have 25 women on the team, and can divvy up the money among the 25 any way she wants. So a few players might get substantial scholarships, the rest won't get much. There are even fewer scholarships available at Division II schools (which generally speaking, aren't well known schools). There are NO athletic scholarships allowed at Division III schools. Any aid offered there must be financial aid or merit aid.
So the reality is, even for top athletes, there are very few full rides to college out there, unless you play football. As this article discusses, excluding football and basketball, the average athletic scholarship in 2004 was $8k.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/sports/10scholarships.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
The real advantage to sports is the admissions edge, not the scholarship. Sports help even if a student is not recruited. Especially being a captain.
This is very true. I know four student athletes who gained entrance to colleges (two Ivy's and two very selective state schools) that they would not have otherwise been able to attend. As PP said,, that is the real advantage. Grades can be lower and other activities are less important in light of assumed dedication to a sport.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:42
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
If you start pushing your kids to do the things that will get them into college when they are at a young age, you will (a) burden them from the get-go with ridiculous expectations. I've seen the damage this does, (b) completely miss the fact that childhood should involve a lot of playing and fun. If your child likes sports, fine. But if you start measuring the worth of their activities in terms of where they will go to school when they are 18, you are inviting lots of trouble.
Also, kids tend to push back. We think we can craft them into our image of what they should be, but they will always have the lsat say.
Also, kids tend to push back. We think we can craft them into our image of what they should be, but they will always have the lsat say.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:28
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Anonymous wrote:Full ride scholarships are generally available only for division 1 football (85 scholarships per school), men's basketball (13), and women's basketball (15), tennis (8), gymnastics (12), and volleyball (12). That's it. Under NCAA rules, no other sports require full ride scholarships. Instead, the other sports are "equivalency" sports, with the limits set at total scholarships equal to x full ride scholarships. So, for example, division 1 women's field hockey can have 12 equivalency scholarships. A coach is free to have 25 women on the team, and can divvy up the money among the 25 any way she wants. So a few players might get substantial scholarships, the rest won't get much. There are even fewer scholarships available at Division II schools (which generally speaking, aren't well known schools). There are NO athletic scholarships allowed at Division III schools. Any aid offered there must be financial aid or merit aid.
So the reality is, even for top athletes, there are very few full rides to college out there, unless you play football. As this article discusses, excluding football and basketball, the average athletic scholarship in 2004 was $8k.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/sports/10scholarships.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
The real advantage to sports is the admissions edge, not the scholarship. Sports help even if a student is not recruited. Especially being a captain.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:21
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Also note, athletic scholarships are for one year only and must be renewed each year. Get hurt? There goes your scholarship.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 22:14
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Full ride scholarships are generally available only for division 1 football (85 scholarships per school), men's basketball (13), and women's basketball (15), tennis (8), gymnastics (12), and volleyball (12). That's it. Under NCAA rules, no other sports require full ride scholarships. Instead, the other sports are "equivalency" sports, with the limits set at total scholarships equal to x full ride scholarships. So, for example, division 1 women's field hockey can have 12 equivalency scholarships. A coach is free to have 25 women on the team, and can divvy up the money among the 25 any way she wants. So a few players might get substantial scholarships, the rest won't get much. There are even fewer scholarships available at Division II schools (which generally speaking, aren't well known schools). There are NO athletic scholarships allowed at Division III schools. Any aid offered there must be financial aid or merit aid.
So the reality is, even for top athletes, there are very few full rides to college out there, unless you play football. As this article discusses, excluding football and basketball, the average athletic scholarship in 2004 was $8k.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/sports/10scholarships.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
So the reality is, even for top athletes, there are very few full rides to college out there, unless you play football. As this article discusses, excluding football and basketball, the average athletic scholarship in 2004 was $8k.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/sports/10scholarships.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Anonymous
03/30/2014 21:51
Subject: Re:If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Anonymous wrote:Great question & topic!
I will tell you what I've come to discover:
Unless your child is a PHENOMENAL athlete, all the hours of training, early mornings, long trips and tons of money are a WASTE! Schools do not throw their money behind mediocre athletes. You child would be better off focusing on making good grades.
Now, if your child happens to love the sport and they're involved simply for the love, that's great! But if the goal is scholarship money, that does not happen unless the child is TOP NOTCH! Any college counselor will tell you that.
Same PP here.
Just wanted to add my impression of the college athlete. When I was in school (on academic scholarship) I remember feeling badly for the athletes who were basically slaves to the school we attended. They didn't have all the freedoms I did. While I was able to hang out with friends and do whatever I wanted, they were in mandated study halls at certain hours, then they had to eat together, live together, practice for hours on end, etc...I was dating an athlete and had to wonder at the time if the sacrifice was worth it and how much more of the FUN part of the college experience he would've had if he'd gotten an academic scholarship or had parents pay out of pocket.
So you play sports and hit the books for 4 years. Where's the fun in that?
And as a PP said, do NOT put all eggs in one basket.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 21:42
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
I know of two females who received full four-year scholarships. One for crew, the other for tennis. The tennis player started playing when she was eight. Years and years of playing locally and then on the road. It was brutal but the school was very accommodating. Both young women are presently on their university schools' teams.
I agree with the previous poster who says the child needs to become top notch.
I agree with the previous poster who says the child needs to become top notch.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 21:41
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
My niece loved rowing crew through high school. My sisters family threw a ton of money, early mornings and long distant travel into it to support her hoping she would get a scholarship. She was sought out by colleges and in her senior year she decided she didn't want to row anymore. And that was the end of it. So, no, it didn't pay off for them, at least not for scholarship money.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 21:34
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Also beware of putting all your eggs in one basket....if a sport scholarship is the only college plan you have and your child ends up with an injury that limits abiity to play (either from overuse or an accident on or off the field), what will you do then?
Anonymous
03/30/2014 21:29
Subject: Re:If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
Great question & topic!
I will tell you what I've come to discover:
Unless your child is a PHENOMENAL athlete, all the hours of training, early mornings, long trips and tons of money are a WASTE! Schools do not throw their money behind mediocre athletes. You child would be better off focusing on making good grades.
Now, if your child happens to love the sport and they're involved simply for the love, that's great! But if the goal is scholarship money, that does not happen unless the child is TOP NOTCH! Any college counselor will tell you that.
I will tell you what I've come to discover:
Unless your child is a PHENOMENAL athlete, all the hours of training, early mornings, long trips and tons of money are a WASTE! Schools do not throw their money behind mediocre athletes. You child would be better off focusing on making good grades.
Now, if your child happens to love the sport and they're involved simply for the love, that's great! But if the goal is scholarship money, that does not happen unless the child is TOP NOTCH! Any college counselor will tell you that.
Anonymous
03/30/2014 20:59
Subject: If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
I have really young kids but I hear parents say that they will have their kid play x sport hopefully so they can get a college scholarship.
Does it really work?
If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
What sport did your child play?
At what age did you have your child start playing the sport?
How much money did you spend over the years so that your child can play the sport?
And anything else you want to mention!
Does it really work?
If you had your child play a sport to get a college scholarship, did it pay off or not?
What sport did your child play?
At what age did you have your child start playing the sport?
How much money did you spend over the years so that your child can play the sport?
And anything else you want to mention!