Academic Money

Academic $ does not come from the coach. It comes from the academic office.

Understood that it doesn't come from the Coach.  Guess I mistakenly believed that he has influence in academic office though.

There are lots of variables when it comes to academic money, the school - state or private, how much is the "rack rate", (ie cost without any assistance), what are their housing costs, etc. You then get into how selective they are and you have to compare yourself with the incoming class. While your son's weighted GPA is good his scores are just OK when comparing them to a highly selective university.

All of this weighs into how much academic money a school will/can offer. We found that state schools (CA) had very little academic money, but private schools had significantly more, but their total cost of attending were higher. My son ended up getting a better overall package going private out of state. 

Now to who arranges this? The coaches had nothing to do with admissions, and how much we received from the school, this was all negotiated and discussed with the financial aid and admissions departments. The recruiting coach just asked us to keep him informed on the process and he would assist if we ran into any issues.

Redfish is exactly right. Academic money, From what I understand, has to be available to all students and based off of specific criteria and has nothing to do with athletics. A for instance, my freshman son was offered at a couple places, BUT academically it depended on each institution based off what my son did academically in HS / ACT. For one he was offered 33% of everything- this was what was offered all out of state students, one offered $7500 for out of state, one offered $5000 in state, one offered $2500 in state. They were all based on specific criteria for each school. Each school showed us where in their website we could find this information (although the coach told us what it was based off his knowledge of the academics at his school).

There was need based money also, based off just that- the FAFSA. What happens is the FAFSA tells every college what you can supposedly afford. Then the college works on academic that are set (such as ACT / GPA gets $X at a school, like the examples above) then they work on grants, work study, and loans to match up to what the college costs. Freshman son is third one going thru college and I have seen this whether there is athletics or not. All of them went to a state funded school, so I do not know if private schools work differently 

This is great advice. This was my Baseball son's experience as well. My youngest, who is not playing any varsity sports in college is going through the process now. While his GPA was not as good as your sons, his ACT/SAT numbers were quite a bit better. He received about what your son did at Big State U. He is applying for additional scholarships in engineering. If he really wants to go their he should talk to Admissions and Financial Aid to see what else exists. 

BLD has some great additional points. Many times there are other avenues for academic money that include, race, academic major, local community affiliation; I have heard of all kinds of crazy money that is available if you dig around for it. 

Among some of the academic scholarship offers my oldest son received it was tied to his academic metrics (GPA, SAT.) and the specific school within the University he was applying to.  The academic office did not look at him as an athlete or a non-athlete...it was purely an academic discussion.  We had read that the top 25% of an academic incoming class can expect academic money or merit money from the school.  It varies on whether it is a public or private school.  Private schools have vastly more flexibility with institutional money that they can offer (it is their money not the taxpayers).  

In addition, the competitive level of the school can also be a factor.  He was offered nearly 100% academic scholarship to a school he would have never considered in a million years.  Clearly, they wanted to incent him to attend their school and help boost their numbers.   Essentially, that is what all schools do to varying degrees.  I strongly suggest reading "Dont Tell Me What To Do, Just Send Money" by Helen Johnson and Christine Schelhas-Miller.  They are two former Admissions Officers and Financial Aid officers.  They go over this process and marketplace in detail. 

Good luck!

You should be able to find the academic money info on the school's website.  It's generally charted and based on HS gpa and Test scores.....I have yet to find a school that doesn't make the academic money pretty clear on their site.

When my son's offer came on the phone from major D1 RC, it was a specific athletic-academic package.

The RC had worked directly with admissions, then called my son.

To be clear, the academic dollars were almost a foregone conclusion, since the requirements are right there on the admissions website, but still, RC handled.

Just a different experience from others, for what it's worth.

btw - my son is right where yours is academically. With those kinds of grades and SAT, I would hope y'all can find a school that values his hard work, and shows it with good academic money. Congrats.

Thanks all for the info.  Very much appreciated and now have a better understanding.  I have checked the schools Admissions site and it looks like the info isn't posted and they want a phone call.  Looks like I have some reading to do as well.

BTW, it is a public school and by no means an academic powerhouse.  The roughly 10% translates into $1000 per year.  He will be applying for additional scholarships but as mentioned I had hoped that starting number would have been higher.

FWIW a 2014 & 2015 we know were 32-33 ACT kids and 4+/- gpa.  No athletic $, all academic at a top Big 10 (corn_______) received nice scholorships.  As stated  they are listed on website as they are available to all with this type of score.  In this instance this program had better offer than in-state (SEC) school.  Kids sound like yours, taller but same velo #'s and projectable.  It's a no brainer for a HC to get a kid like this on a roster and the RC should be stepping up and taking charge IMO.

From a baseball standpoint I would be concerned if the baseball coach/program doesn't have any skin in the game. Of course, the baseball money depends on how funded is the baseball program. If they fund 11.7 your son goes in as one of the #28-35 players on the roster. Roster spots are nice. Opportunity to play is better.

clevername,

Welcome to the site!!

As I know you're aware, you've received some great advice here.

Congratulations to your son...and best of luck to him!

i have had 2 players get academic money and both of the arrangements and offers were sone through the coaching staff. 

Clevername, check your PM

A very good point regarding the specific school within the University being a factor.  My son and daughter attended the same state supported school, two years apart.   Daughter had a perfect score on the SAT and a 5.0 GPA.  Son's numbers were very good, but not as good as daughter's.  BUT, son got MORE academic money than daughter because of his field of study, engineering. 

Great info everyone.  Thanks again.  It's interesting to note that through these posts and dialogs I have found that some coaches are actually involved in helping obtain (though maybe not "officially") academic money while others aren't.  Lots of variables at play in this whole process and not one uniform way that things get done.

clevername,

I'm not exactly sure what your experience has been so far.  In my experience, all the D1 coaches had an academic liason who was specifically responsible for being that go between the athletics dept and academics dept for compliance reasons.  These were the folks that were doing all the work on the back end to keep the recruiting machine moving forward.

If the coach is leading you to believe he is influencing an academic scholarship he is either stretching the truth or isn't very far away from a future call from the NCAA.  This would be a red flag for me.

That's the bottom line. The simple answer is that NCAA rules require them to treat the student athlete exactly like the non-athletes when it comes to academic money. In practice, that isn't simple. Non-athletes have the ability to negotiate scholarship money at many schools. How does Admissions explain/justify those types of differences when it comes to comparing them to how an athlete was handled?

Clevername,

First thing I would do is look at academic profiles of incoming freshmen at school. Then you will see how your son "stacks up" to other incoming students. If you see he is at either low end or high end (GPA/Test scores) that will give you an idea how to proceed. Also, I believe most schools have not sent out their complete financial award packages. Your initial offer is just that - initial. If it was in the acceptance letter, my daughter also had the same thing. It was an instant award she qualified for of $2000 with an Ipad. It was a state school. After she received her final award package, she qualified for several thousand additional dollars in Grant money. Make sure you get in your FAFSA. They won't give you any Grant or any other aid money without it.

One of the schools my son applied to did not offer him any Merit money. I called their Scholarship office to review information they had. They didn't consider my son's second test scores which were higher. They will re-review. Last thing I would say is to communicate with coach, they know a lot of the decision making comes down to finances. You will see how badly he wants your son! Good Luck!

Keep in mind there is no such thing as guaranteed roster spot.  Recruiting is like a girlfriend they come and go.  Especially if you don't have anything in writing.  Unless your kid is the elite of the elite, academic money is a good way to go.  So long a you keep your grades up, you can't loose your academic money.  A scolarship on the other hand can be taken away at anytime.