How unusual is it for a plyer to recive a full ride d1 offer?

It seems like every thing I read says it is rare and everyone I talk to says they got one or so and so got a full ride. Do conferances like the Big East, SEC and ACC tend to give out more full rides?

Yes I know 14 scholorships per school if fully funded but schools seem to find money from grants and academics as well.

Here on the BOTN College Forum, we typically talk about "full rides" (and disspelling the rumor) in the context of purely athletic scholarships.

Since we do not have access to the academic transcipts of student-athletes nor their parents' tax statements for a review of financial aid requirements, it becomes impossible for BOTN to have a generic discussion on those aspects of funding an education.

When it comes to grants or outright financial aid, many families will consider these as part of their package when declaring a "full ride" which is misleading. As for academics, BOTN has strongly urged the pursuit of academic scholarships for student-athletes as these are the least likely financial vehicles to be revoked.

Let's talk about ACC Schools that are generally better endowed across the board. Further, the ACC sports six outstanding academic institutions in the US News and World Reports Top 40. Review these options with regards to their financial aid and associated pages.

• Duke University (US News and World Reports, #10) has an interesting EFC (Effective Family Contribution) calculator as well as a picture of aid availed to families in different financial brackets. See this Duke University Web Site for more details. The rule of thumb most often used is that $150,000 of annual income, $100,000 in savings, owning your own home, and other assets are typically the threshhold at which the financial aid fulcrum sits. Hence, keep this in mind when you look at the charts on this web site.
• University of Virginia (US News and World Reports #24)
• Wake Forest (US News and World Reports #25)
• UNC Chapel Hill (US News and World Reports #29)
• Boston College (US News and World Reports #31)
• University of Miami (US News and World Reports #38)

"When it comes to grants or outright financial aid, many families will consider these as part of their package when declaring a "full ride" which is misleading."

Not sure it's misleading since the coaches refer to any combination that covers all expenses a full ride.

I think it is fair to say that full ride is a full ride.

But still my question, are full rides rare?

I have heard many times that most get about 1/3 athletic, 1/3 academic and 1/3 student loan or family pay but as I said the folks I talk to seem to get full rides.

Do the full rides generally go to the early commits? (the better players/top prospects)

Most readers here on the College Forum will discuss a "full ride" on the back of an athletic scholarship by definition. There is nothing about financial aid which is tied to playing a sport which is why we have typically kept that outside of the discussion of full ride scholarships. Grants can be tied to playing a sport or any of a number of other functions at the university.

Think of it this way : Universities are in business. Every university calculates its own "discount rate" (the actual term) which defines the percentage of the stated full cost of tuition that the AVERAGE student will pay per year. This highly confidential information varies widely by institution and competition from the local market for students.

If you define a "full ride" to include financial aid (grants), fine, you will see a higher percentage of the overall bill covered. Your estimate on the athletic money is slightly high as the benchmark is typically 0.25 of an athletic scholarship for entering freshmen.

If you include a student loan in the calculation for "free ride", you are deceiving yourself. Student loans are just that - loans - which need to be repaid.

Strong academic schools (top 40 institutions) will generally not offer more early money since the school combined with a competitive level will provide a sufficient lure to the student-athlete. The packages tend to be somewhat more standard.

Lesser institutions that are trying to land "a whale" who has the potential to change the institution's program will tend to offer more to a single candidate.

Again, you are looking for rules where none exist so remember that to be more specific, we need to be talking about specific schools, regions, conferences, or academic rankings. However as a trend, it is reasonable to assume that athletic money is paid earlier and in higher amounts to the first set of recruits typically during Junior Year of High School.

of course a student loan can not be considered part of a full ride however academic or hardship money can. (are there any kids who qualify for no academic or hardship money ever given full rides? I think it must be EXTREMELY rare) Pure athletic full rides are about non existant aren't they?

are there many D1 schools still looking at kids their senior year?

I see late sophmroe and Jr year when things are at full tilt. (D1 only again)

My daughter (HS Jr.) has gotten some interest from a few D1 schools and also some really good academic D3 schools. I believe that there will be some athletic money offered, plus some significant academic money offered from 2 or 3 of the D1 schools. That’s probably going to happen soon and they will be looking for a verbal commitment. Unfortunately it seems like the D3 schools work on a different schedule and we will not be able to get a concrete picture of what they’re going to be able to do financially. While she has a really good GPA she would probably just be an average student at the D3 school and not qualify for much academic money based on academics alone. In making a decision (d1 vs d3) is it safe to assume that with d3 what you see is what you get in terms of financial aid? Or does anyone have some real experience with certain D3 schools able to leverage additional resources for athletes they recruit?

BOTN has been telling this same story for at least the last five years here on the College Board and before our launch. Remember that when you have 25+ players on a roster and a dozen (or so) scholarships, for one person to get a full scholarship on athletics alone means that someone else is getting less than their share - or nothing.

There are quality players that will decide to not follow through on a verbal commitment and therefore come back into the pool for NCAA Division I school consideration. Coaches are always seeking talent for their rosters. However, most (in excess of 90%) Division I athletic money for soccer will have already been allocated before the summer season closes in Junior Year.

The biggest shock that some parents will see in the Division I recruitment wars is that first financial offers will be assigned for top recruits by Christmas time of the Junior Year. Most (in excess of 90%) of Division I money is typically allocated shortly after the Memorial Day Showcases in the Junior Year. So, it does not mean that the Division I well is dry, but the name institutions in the soccer world will have already made their decisions from that recruiting class.

Certainly, the NESCAC schools offer outstanding educations in the Division III environment. Schools such as Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Colby and others in this Division III camp offer outstanding educations.

The midpoint of Junior Year is when the first serious offers (typically, just after Disney) start to take shape. Candidates will often be asked for indications of interest in an effort to allow the coach for form his/her recruiting class. Players will be monitored throughout their Junior and Senior club seasons for progress and any adjustments required.

Yes, this is a sound observation. Division III schools will firm up their classes during the summer of Junior/Senior Year into the first half of the Senior year. On Financial Aid, you can assume that offers based on the FAFSA calculation will be similar. If you have already completed a FAFSA and calculated your Effective Family Contribution ("EFC"), offering this data to any of the Division III schools in which your child has an interest could afford you an indication of what might be expected in terms of Financial Aid.

Aside from approaching the Financial Aid department with the numbers we have suggested, BOTN is not sure what the "what you see if what you get" comment means. Schools basing aid on FAFSA/EFC alone will, based on endowments, generally calculate roughly the same "need" for a family.

If Westone should come onto the message board (we will send Westone a private message), significant Division III experience and knowledge can be brought to the table with first hand experience. Let us see what we can do to contact Westone.

Broadly speaking D1 and D3 schools have very different recruiting cycles and offer very different college experiances. D1 Ivy is somewhere in the middle with D3 Nescac being on the extreme end. The first question that must be answered is how much of your daughter's college years does she want to defined by being a soccer player (Div 1) or by being a student who happens to play a sport one semester (Nescac). Almost all Div 1 programs and indeed some Div 3 programs play a Fall (full) and Spring (varies) season. Nescac is the only conference I am aware of the prohibits its athletes from playing their sport out of season. Many Nescac schools also bar students from playing more than one sport. You are there for the eductaion, not to be a full time athlete, part time student.

As a general rule (D3 is can be more school specific), D3 schools / coaches decide on there recruits in September / October of the students' senior year and almost everyone who is on the team is part of the ED process. D3 coaches can be less transparent because they are always looking for best players they can find that can get into their school. Each D3 school has different academic standards and yes coaches have some influence, but if boards and grades are not there, a coach cannot get you in.

D3 recruiting means you need to understand the early read process and you need to be sure you ask coaches- exactly where am i in your list of recruits overall and form my position. Coaches will not usually give you this answer unless you ask for it.

I am well aware of a number of D3 students who applied to schools who either did not get in or got in but did not make the team due to a lack of understanding of the process.

Financial aid at most D3 schools is needs based. Merits scholorships can show up, but mainly show up if there is both a need and the school wants you academically, in other words, you have grades or what not that makes them want you. All of this happens later in the process than D1 scholorship money.

As has been noted on this board, remember that scholorship money is 'renewed' every year and can and does change for many athletes short of the stars on the team or at top D1 schools. Once you are at a D3 school, they will do everything within their resouces to make sure the aid is there every year, it just may change some.

If there are specific questions beyond the lenghty response above, please let us know. I hope this is of some help. I have a daughter who plays for one of the top Nesdac schools, looked at both Div 1 and a number of Div 3 schools but I will admit am a tad weak on the financial aid details; having said that, any coach that expresess a high level of interest can readily obtain aid answers.

Let me add that across most D3 schools, the amount of aid that you would get, beyone needs based; that is some sort of merit scholorship that is leveraged by a coach is possible, but it is not the norm. I have heard of some athletes getting merit type scholorships in addition to their aid but they are often on the small side (2K per semester) (these are 55K per year schools) and they only show up for recruits that are impact players.

Most of this sort of package is not visable until after you have actually applied ED.