Recruiting

A ROSE IS A ROSE AND A BUCK IS A BUCK: Scholarships vs. Financial Aid

Part I. The Scholarship

An enormous amount of energy (and sometimes money) is spent by families in search of the elusive softball scholarship. Working with parents and youth coaches, I hear the word scholarship more often than I hear the term base hit.

I can't count the times I've stood with parents and listened to them tell me their athlete has to have a scholarship or she can't play college softball. Yet I know for a fact that these parents can afford to send their child to college, and they will no doubt do so if she can’t play softball for some reason.

Some parents seem to view a scholarship as a proof of their ability to know how good their player is--e.g., by getting a scholarship she proves all those idiots who didn't start her in a game were wrong and so on. Other parents feel that they're "owed" a scholarship because they’ve spent $6000 a year for the last five years so she could play travel ball. (I wonder if they ever considered putting that money into a college fund?)

I have nothing against softball scholarships. A lot of my time with athletes and their families is spent helping them investigate ways to pay for college, and many of the players I work with do get softball scholarships. But I never cease to be amazed at how many families simply refuse to accept reality. There may be 1100 colleges with softball teams, and over half of them may offer some softball-based aid, but there are also thousands of high school seniors competing for spots on these teams.

With the exception of very high visibility players who are in the top one or two percentile, almost everyone else falls into a huge pool of recruitable athletes. And college coaches who are fishing in that pool often take the first fish that bites. Let's look at an example. A coach at a college in South Carolina is looking for someone to play third base. In Vancouver, WA (you can substitute your hometown) and in Chattanooga, TN there are two high school seniors who could fill this position. These girls are similar players, though the player from Vancouver is a slightly stronger athlete.

If the coach knew this player was out there and might be interested in his school, he would love to recruit her. But he will never hear about her because she and her parents are sitting in their cozy house in Vancouver believing the doorbell will ring and this coach (or the coach from UCLA or the coach from Washington or the coach from Arizona State) will be standing there with a scholarship offer in hand. So the coach from the South Carolina school will probably sign the girl from Tennessee who has written, sent him a tape and called to say she's really interested in his school. As an added bonus, because Tennessee is much closer to South Carolina than Washington, this coach has more opportunities to see this player in action (and most D-I coaches won’t recruit players they don’t see first.)

Believe me, the race goes not necessarily to the best athlete, but more often to the hardest working and the most open-minded. If this same family in Vancouver insists on believing their athlete is a too good to play anywhere but at a Div. I school, or at a West Coast school, or at a scholarship school, she may very well not play at any school. Over half the schools with softball scholarships are D-II and NAIA programs. Many small D-I programs have very limited scholarship funding. So if you set conditions for where your athlete plays based on your perceptions of her ability, you may "price" her right out of the market.

Part II. Financial Aid

Suppose you're in New York and someone offers you a wonderful free vacation in Hawaii. They'll even fly you there. You insist on flying first class. Unfortunately, there are no first class seats available. Will you turn down the vacation simply because you can't fly first class? Why? Doesn't the back end of the airplane get there at the same time as the front?

This is a great analogy for the scholarship vs. financial aid dilemma, though it may not be 100% accurate because a scholarship may not truly be equal to a first class seat. Since most athletes on scholarships are getting partial, rather than full rides, you may only have half a seat even if you're traveling in the first class section! And athletic scholarships, as with first class seats on planes, are limited in availability.

Every year, I see lots of student-athletes continue their sport and their education thanks to terrific financial aid packages put together by schools. Although athletic money may be hard to come by, most schools--particularly private schools--have a wide range of other financial aid available. Parents may faint when they open a brochure from a college and see a $35,000 price tag attached, but a year later when their daughter starts school there and she's getting an aid package worth $27,000, the parents will thank their lucky stars they didn't toss that brochure.

Many parents confide in me about their financial aid packages, and I'll let you in on a little secret. Financial aid packages are often better--e.g., offer more money--than softball scholarships. A coach might only be able to give you a softball scholarship that is equal to 20 % of the cost of attendance at her school. Whereas, you might qualify for 65% of your funding if you applied for aid at a non-scholarship school. (Of course you can't get aid if you don't understand how it works, who might qualify and when to apply, but you can find out more in my book, Preparing to Play Softball at the Collegiate Level.)

When you eliminate all schools without scholarships, you eliminate nearly half your athlete's options for college softball. So parents and players must ask themselves this question when they begin the college search process. Which is more important, my ego or my wallet? Surely an education is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. If someone offers you any way to pay for part of your athlete's education, take the money and run!