This weekend, I learned that there's a huge difference between most D1 JUCO's and at least some D3 JUCO's (which give no scholarships). The D1 JUCO's in Texas seem to be fairly to extremely competitive and most do a pretty decent job overseeing the players' academics -- although I know of a few that have poor graduation rates.
Contrast that with a D3 JUCO near by son's 4-year college. My son is friends with a player there and we were shocked all fall when he would tell his coach that he was going home for the weekend and his coach was okay with him missing Saturday practices. We were also shocked to learn that he made 2 D's and 2 F's in the fall. Obviously, not a lot of academic oversight at that school.
On Friday night, we took this young man out to dinner, along with our own son. We asked how things were going and he shared that academics are going better because he's going to classes "more often." I asked what that meant and he explained that even with 2 alarm clocks, he sometimes sleeps through all of his classes. Obviously, the coach doesn't have requirements for class attendance. Regarding baseball, he said the coach is really laid back and "doesn't push us to get better." He said that sometimes, the coach wants to leave practice before the players do.
Despite the fact that the team has been playing since Jan. 30, the online roster still dates to spring 2008.
That is one college program I would never want my son to play for.