Financial Aid Paperwork

I guess I'll start - based on my experience and no particular expertise.

If they want you to do financial aid paperwork, they are likely trying to determine if what the percentage they would offer in athletic money is more or less than what you would qualify for on straight fiancial aid.  If coach can find a way to get a player without utilizing his precious scholly money, he will.

In terms of time, most coaches can get a quick read in a day or two.  Certainly less than a week unless there is some circumstance.

I suppose the answer to C is 100%, though I may not understand exactly what you are asking.

On D, you hear some stories about stacking aid, but I never experienced that.  It was one or the other.

That's my personal experience, again, others may have different responses or a better grip on the governing rules.

It could mean anything.

It could mean the coach has no athletic money and hopes you qualify for enough need-based aid to make the school affordable on those terms.

Some expensive schools have net price calculators on their web sites so you can estimate how much need-based money you'll receive. It is not uncommon for these calculators to show that a very expensive school can be more affordable for a middle class family than a less expensive school, even with an athletic scholarhip.

With regard to stacking merit and athletic money, the coaches we dealt with seemed to have a fairly good ballpark notion of how much merit money my son would get, but only one coach took the extra step of working with admissions to assemble one package that combined academic and athletic money.

Thanks guys.  Very helpful...

"I suppose the answer to C is 100%, though I may not understand exactly what you are asking."

I meant what was the total Financial Aid they could offer.  I wasn't sure if they could go 100% on the Financial Aid.  I figured they could if they stacked.

Is need-based aid (not student loans) counted against the 11.7 scholarship monies in a D-1 program whereas academic scholarship awards are not?

I think the answer you're looking for is, they can offer him as much Financial Aid as they would offer to any other student in the general population with the same need (or merit). Offering more than that is against the rules.

Have you completed the FAFSA yet? Many expensive schools with selective admissions will at least get you down to your EFC (Expected Family Contribution). And, many will do better than that.

Rick needs to pipe in!

Academic (merit) awards may be counted against the 11.7 unless certain criteria are met.  I found this:

"...a student-athlete must meet one or more of four academic criteria and can receive money from a college or university that will not  be counted against a team’s athletic scholarship equivalency.

THE ACADEMIC CRITERIA ARE:

• Rank in the top 10% of you high school class
• Achieve a Core GPA of 3.5 (4.0 Scale) or better in high school
• Minimum SAT score of 1200
• Minimum ACT score of 105

In my son's case, based on the CSS Profile and FAFSA, he was awarded a subsidized loan, unsubsidized loan, and a state grant.  I quickly called the FA office and asked about the athletic aid.  "Oh, that isn't applied until July".   Well, in July when the athletic scholarship was applied, the subsidized loan and part of the grant disappeared.   Sigh.

MidAtlanticDad is on the right track.  The first thing the coach needs is the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) from filling out the FAFSA.   When my son was transferring from a JuCo to a D2, before he could make an offer, we had to fill out the FAFSA.  After that he came up with a firm number.  For us things happened fairly fast.  From the time he finished JuCO to the time he had the offer was about two weeks.

"Minimum ACT score of 105"

Should that be 15, as the max score in the ACT is 36. Very proud that NTGson scored 34 in ACT.

I copied and pasted from a site.  Not sure what the correct number should be.....but I am sure it is in the NCAA handbook/regs.

I think that 105 is referring to the sum of all four ACT subjects, as opposed to the composite score that we're all used to using. And just to emphasize, that criteria is in reference to merit scholarships. I don't know of any comparable criteria for need based aid.

Do they Super Score the 105?  I can't remember what Ryan received in all 4 categories, but he received a 25 Overall.  So based on just the test he received a 25 on, I don't think it would add to 105.  I would have to check, but if they Super Score, he probably would.

The 105 is indeed referring to the sum of the four ACT subject areas, and if the ACT test was taken multiple times, the best score earned on each area can be used.  For example, the English score from a Spring test can be combined with the other subject scores from a Fall test.  Multiplying the composite score by 4 will give you a rough estimate of the ACT sum score.

Regarding the question of whether need-based aid is counted against the 11.7, it would depend upon the type of aid and the awarding agency.  A Federal Pell Grant is not counted toward the 11.7, but need-based aid determined by the college probably will be, but again, it depends upon some specific factors.

All I can share is my son's first year experience. He was awarded athletic scholarship, academic scholarship based off his ACT score that every student in same range was awarded, Pell grant. He did have some local HS one time scholarships that applied and He/ WE had opportunity to get a loan or pay the rest.

In his case the academic did not count towards the 11.7

Thanks for all of the advice. I have gone to their website and filled out the Cost Calculator, and it appears this very expensive school may be affordable.  We also received an e-mail yesterday from the coach that said it will take at least a week to get the paperwork through the necessary channels. He said that they have their conference tournament this week, and if the paperwork needs a push, he will get the AD involved.  After that he said, "We want Ryan at XX".  This e-mail was sent to me and not Ryan, so I replied back that we will check with them first before making a commitment anywhere else.  We just want a good fit for him. 

Somewhat interesting, because Academically, this is definitely the best school he has in the hunt.  We would love for him to get a great education while playing baseball and have good career opportunities as a result.

The next month should be very interesting.

Thanks again...

Kevin