Low offer

I'm not real familiar with D2's, as my son committed to a D1 before we really got into any serious talks with any D2's.  If it's me, I look at it as...1) he likes the school...2) the coaches seem to like him....and 3) you're getting 33%  of his college paid for.  I would think that if they knew he had 28% coming in academic money that it may have caused (allowed??) them to drop the baseball offer...figuring you'll likely be happy paying 2/3 of the cost of school instead of 100%.  Maybe someone who's had more experience with D2's can help.  I know in my son's case, we looked at the total money (baseball + academic)...and really didn't care how he got it or what his baseball offer would have been if he wasn't getting a nice chunk of academic money.  The bottom line is we're only paying for 45% of his college....how the school comes up with it's share really doesn't matter to me....lol

It appears that they attempted and accomplished "selling the dream" and only when the offer came, did your feelings change. I would have felt the same way. 33% total money is great, especially compared to 5%, but i agree with you that the baseball money investment means something. At a mimimum, you want them to "show" you they want your son and not just tell you. I think your reaction is normal.

If it is the school I am thinking of, they dont give out big money and yes they recruit bigtime.

Do some homework. Look at the roster, find out how many they redshirt last few years and bring in the fall. 

To answer your question, yes they do take into consideration whether you can afford it or not, that is why they asked.

Does you son qualify for academic or state money?

The problem is that many very rarely consider an offer a really good one, and while I understand about the 5%, that is what D1 coaches gave before they changed the rules.

Of course they are going to gush all over him, they are selling!. As my wife says they are in "used car salesmen mode".  You should negotiate and see what they can do for your son so I would (he) respond with:

1. Thank you very much for the offer, we are very interested in going here but is there any additional money that you can offer?

They may come back with "we are out of money" or some other excuse. Which I would respond with:

2. What will be available for years 2-4? What if I am a middle reliever, a closer, a weekday starter, weekend starter?

Get this understanding in advance so you can hold them to it in the later years. This is where you need to do the background work on the program and see if the coaches have (in the past) lived up to their verbal commitments. 

Good Luck! 

Total speculation on my part, but I think it's "all of the above". Sounds like your son will have no problem with admittance and affordability, and the coach absolutely knows that. He also knows it's getting late, which is probably a bigger issue to your son than it is to him (he's also probably extracted useful information from your son about his alternatives and how thrilled he is with them).

Coach is also trying to show love to a bunch of kids, and he might have 40 or more on his roster. He may also be expecting you to counter. He is probably taking a calculated risk that this won't be a deal-breaker given what he knows (or thinks he knows) about your son's situation.  I'm sure it was disappointing, but if everything else is a good fit I would try not to be offended and stay positive with your son. I would definitely counter with something that you feel is more appropriate, but decide beforehand whether or not you're prepared to walk away because of it.

Not sure why, but I read the first post...and somehow missed that he was a 2015....I replied thinking 2017.  I agree with MidAtlanticDad.  It's getting late in the process for 2015's.  Did they give you any idea on how many 2015's are already committed?  If they are close to filling the class, it's possible that they don't have a lot of $$$ left.  If they need 7 kids...and they have no commits yet, then I'd think there's got to be at least a little more that they can bring to the table.  I would say this....you said your son loves the school.  That's exactly what happened to my son, the school he ended up at was actually the last one to recruit him.  He visited...and during a few minutes we had away from the coach he said "if they offer...I'm taking it".  The coach came to watch him throw the next day...then called him.  He committed on the phone...even though there was another school that was still likely to offer. Him liking the school was more important than a couple more $$$ that he may have gotten from another school.

I would agree with all the above.  I think the most likely issue is the timing.  I'm not sure about the D2 timetable, but for a D1 it certainly would be considered late in the game.  My son turned down a very significant offer from one school simply because he got an offer from his dream school.  He and I had discussed it prior to the offer and I had given him an amount that I would be willing to pay for him to attend his dream school.  When he got the offer, he took it.  The dream school had shown a lot of interest as well.  I can tell you, it was very difficult to turn down the other offer from my perspective.  It was a full ride from a well respected ACC program, but son just did not feel comfortable with the non-baseball life.  I would say to go where you are wanted, but make sure you love the school.  If those two requirements are met and you can afford the tuition, I say take it.  There is nothing wrong with asking for more money, just be prepared to accept the consequences, if any.

Outstanding advice in this thread.

My son was offered a minimal baseball scholarship like yours but minus the 28% for academics like your son is being offered.  If we would have known about the hsbbweb before that offer was made, we might have turned it down based on the standard type of very logical advice given here but...

Although we were disappointed in what was offered, we saw the offer as an opportunity (to play at the highest level of D1 baseball in the deep South) and took it.  If pride (or logic?) would have intervened, my son would have missed out on the baseball opportunity of a lifetime.  His last two years in school he got 33% for baseball and that still was low imho based on his productivity.  Your son has the opportunity here to start out (money-wise) where my son ended up.  Something to consider. 

D2 baseball programs come in so many shapes and sizes that it's hard to know what to make of this particular situation.  It's possible they were blowing smoke, but it's also possible they love him but just don't have any more money. 

My advice is to get an objective opinion from a qualified baseball coach or scout as to how good a match your son is for the quality of ball at this D2.  This will give you an idea of how much this D2 should be expected to love a player like your son and help you evaluate the situation.

Best wishes,

Put the money and ego to the side for minute....weigh the opportunity vs other opportunities and then make a decision.  If your son sees this school as a stepping stone to a great college baseball experience, and academic career....jump on it!   

With apologies to those of you who might have seen this recollection from me in the past:

When my son cut off his recruiting, he held a wide range of DI scholarship offers. The highest was 75% from a school where he felt the fit with the overall student body seemed tenuous. He was also unimpressed with the general level of commitment to winning championships among the players with whom he spoke.

In contrast, his lowest was a paltry $1,500 from his dream school/program. The Head Coach had explained at the time that his scholarship budget was extended, but that if my son contributed to the degree that he and the other coaches expected, he'd boost the level as scholarship funds became available. 

Of all our family members, I was the most bent out of shape that it felt like my son's attraction to the school was being used to get him for a "song." However, cooler heads reminded me that the school still wasn't out of reach financially and there was a great deal being gained by having the opportunity to attend one's dream school.

At the coach's urging, we also spoke with some successful, veteran players at the program and learned that the coach had come through with additional funds as he had said he would.

The result: I swallowed my pride, and he attended his dream school. He succeeded there, and the coach systematically found increasing dollars from his scholarship budget; sufficiently so that by the time he was a Junior, I was paying very little for his college education.

As a result of this and others' experiences, I am a firm believer in the saying that a "good" scholarship is one that makes it possible for a child to attend the school that he feels is best suited for him.

This!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I generally agree with Prepster, I do think you need to investigate the reputation of the specific head coach for keeping promises like the one his son received up front.  Some keep those promises, some don't. 

The particular coach Prepster's son dealt with has an extraordinarily high reputation.

I don't get the problem.  He will be allowed to play baseball at his dream school...personally if the same thing happened to my kid in the 9th hour and he had a guaranteed spot on the team I would consider ANY money icing on the cake.

There is a potential problem.

In football, the coaches don't get to see a kid play 4-6 games over a weekend to judge his performance.  They see kids at skills combines, they watch game tapes, and they get recommendations.  Then they put a true full ride on the table.  When the kid shows up on campus, he's one of 85 and then the battle begins to get on the field.

In baseball, the roster is limited and the money is even more limited.  There is a lot more pressure on coaches to get the decision right the first time.  So even though less money is being offered in a typical situation, compared to football, a lot more scouting and evaluation is done before even a partial scholarship is offered.

The silver lining is, if you're a football player you don't really know if the coaches have you in mind as a starter or whether they might just be shining you on about your prospects.  In baseball, the money tends to indicate whether you are truly viewed as a big time get, or whether you're viewed more as a role player who fills out the recruiting class.  That is, someone who gets 70% is almost certainly viewed as a future starter and impact player.  Conversely, a 5% offer would seem to suggest that at most you'll get a shot at earning your way up the ladder, it's just that the 70% guy is probably going to get a lot more chances than you will because now the coaches are heavily invested in that guy making good.

There are exceptions, of course.  Sometimes a true late bloomer comes along after the coach has committed most of his money.  The coach truly believes in the guy but his hands are tied.  We do see, e.g., coaches recruit freshman walk-ons with the oral promise of money come sophomore year and beyond.

These can be great opportunities, but as I say, you need to make sure you trust the guy making the promise.  You might also want to think about whether his job is secure or hanging by a thread, or whether he's the hotshot who may be leaving soon to move to a higher paying program.  Because some times the next coach honors prior promises, and sometimes he feels no compunction to do so.

A point well worth emphasizing.

Whether about this or any other issue that's of significance to a player's decision, make certain that sufficient time is spent validating one's expectations with current and past players (and their parents, if a comfortable connection exists). In the process, a player will either validate or have to adjust his expectations; and he will likely learn more about the way the program really is than he knew before.

You have certainly gotten some good advice and comments so far so I'll just add my perspective from the dad of a DII player who went to the top DII state school in a neighboring state. This is about the time the perrenial contending DII's are making their committments as my son's former school usually announces ten or twelve signings in the November early signing period.

According to your post everything about the school and team seems to be a fit accept that the offer was lower than expected. Our DII team always had 14 to 17 pitchers and if you figure three stud pitchers, the centerfielder, shortstop and perhaps catcher  took up about 4 to 5 of the 9 total scholarships, the rest of the money was divided in much smaller increments. So that lower offer does not necessarily indicate your son is not desired or well thought of. Our coach did reward players who made solid contributions and I know my son and his roommates who all became big contributors got raises in their scholarships twice each. So there could be more money in the future if your son does a good job which I'm sure you're confident he can.

My son was offered the moon by a Texas  DII school that was half the distance from home compared to the out of state school he eventually signed with, He had had a tremendous three game series on the Texas school's campus with his travel team and they offered a huge scholarship on the spot. They even promised that they were going to become an offense focused on speed which was his forte. But my son just didn't feel as comfortable in the town or on the campus which was all about the "cowboy" culture which surprisingly being from Texas he was not really into like I am.

The Texas school did not have the incredible facilities and winning tradition that the school he ended up at had and that was important to him. His eventual coach had, I believe the second highest winning percentage in all the NCAA. So he went for all that even with a lesser offer. Your son has a chance to go to his dream school that is a winner and he should keep in mind that nothing replaces that playing in games that mean something every year. More individual honors come to players on winning teams too. I feel that if your son does contribute in his freshman year or by his sophomore year there will be more money forthcoming IF the coach is an honorable man.

Good Luck!

I would evaluate your options.  I'm not sure but there maybe some D2 rules regarding combing academic money and athletic money that may come into play.  I have a co-worker whose son got a ton, almost full academic scholarship, at a local D2.  Coach told him he couldn't give him any athletic money because his academic money would count against him.  No idea if that is really correct but that's what he said.

My son who is at an NAIA school received zero athletic money but is getting about 33% academic.  He's only been there a month and half but so far everything baseball wise he's been treated the same as guys that are getting athletic money.  

If he likes the school then I'd seriously consider it. My son did the opposite and picked the school because of the coaching staff which could turn against him should that change.  They have only been there a year and are very knowledable ex MLB guys for the most part.

attached is a article about baseball scholarships - fact is baseball is one of the lowest average scholarships awarded. 

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.  It's very much appreciated!  No decision has been made regarding this yet - still trying to gather information and visit a few more schools.  

Thanks again!