Comments on: Ask the college counselor: Applying for sports scholarships http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/09/08/ask-the-college-counselor-applying-for-sports-scholarships/ Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:33:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Derrick Adkins http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/09/08/ask-the-college-counselor-applying-for-sports-scholarships/#comment-9296 Derrick Adkins Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:54:33 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/09/08/ask-the-college-counselor-applying-for-sports-scholarships/#comment-9296 I agree with both the counselor and the comment. Other forms of financial assistance should be prioritized over athletic scholarships (such as need-based financial aide, academic scholarships). I was on full scholarship at Georgia Tech in track and coached track for two years at a Division I institution. Parents and students consider an athletic scholarship to be a badge of honor more than any thing else. When I direct students and parents to need-based financial aide - which offers more in some cases - they sometimes they prefer the prestige of an athletic scholarship. I think they should prefer a lesser cost of education. For solid, top athletes, of course the athletic scholarship is a wonderful thing especially when it's 100%. But for the marginal athletes who are fighting to get a 50% sports scholarship, it's best to consider other options as well. I agree with both the counselor and the comment. Other forms of financial assistance should be prioritized over athletic scholarships (such as need-based financial aide, academic scholarships). I was on full scholarship at Georgia Tech in track and coached track for two years at a Division I institution. Parents and students consider an athletic scholarship to be a badge of honor more than any thing else. When I direct students and parents to need-based financial aide - which offers more in some cases - they sometimes they prefer the prestige of an athletic scholarship. I think they should prefer a lesser cost of education. For solid, top athletes, of course the athletic scholarship is a wonderful thing especially when it’s 100%. But for the marginal athletes who are fighting to get a 50% sports scholarship, it’s best to consider other options as well.

]]> By: history professor http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/09/08/ask-the-college-counselor-applying-for-sports-scholarships/#comment-9265 history professor Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:27:34 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/09/08/ask-the-college-counselor-applying-for-sports-scholarships/#comment-9265 I would like to underscore with a big red highlighter the end of Jane's article. I teach at a NCAA Division II University with a number of Division 1 teams and Jane's comment that being an athlete on scholarship can become a full time job is on the mark. In fact, I go a step further and say that for many students it's a form of indentured servitude crippling rather than aiding their academic performance. Parents think of athletic scholarships as nirvana, the answer to their college tuition problems but they don't understand that athletic scholarships carry commitments that can undermine a student's academic career. Too often I find myself counseling weeping students who cannot juggle the reading and writing requirements of their other professors with the 5 am. weight lifting sessions and 7 pm. practices demanded by a coach. Besides requiring team play these athletic scholarships also require that students carry a certain grade point average and that they remain healthy. Woe to the student who fails any courses or who is hurt while playing. Do your child a favor: Encourage them to make sports secondary. If they have the grades and an otherwise strong academic record, they should shoot for a merit scholarship. This will free them up to study (which is the full time job they should be doing while in college) and get the grades that will insure a good GPA and entrance into a good job or good graduate study program. That's the key to long term success. I would like to underscore with a big red highlighter the end of Jane’s article. I teach at a NCAA Division II University with a number of Division 1 teams and Jane’s comment that being an athlete on scholarship can become a full time job is on the mark. In fact, I go a step further and say that for many students it’s a form of indentured servitude crippling rather than aiding their academic performance.

Parents think of athletic scholarships as nirvana, the answer to their college tuition problems but they don’t understand that athletic scholarships carry commitments that can undermine a student’s academic career. Too often I find myself counseling weeping students who cannot juggle the reading and writing requirements of their other professors with the 5 am. weight lifting sessions and 7 pm. practices demanded by a coach. Besides requiring team play these athletic scholarships also require that students carry a certain grade point average and that they remain healthy. Woe to the student who fails any courses or who is hurt while playing.

Do your child a favor: Encourage them to make sports secondary. If they have the grades and an otherwise strong academic record, they should shoot for a merit scholarship. This will free them up to study (which is the full time job they should be doing while in college) and get the grades that will insure a good GPA and entrance into a good job or good graduate study program. That’s the key to long term success.

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