July 1 commitment

A verbal commit is not "legally" binding. signing a letter of intent essentially is. As an '06 I think your son is a year away from making any binding agreement.

If your son is an '06 freshman admit, I think Hey Batter might have miscalculated. You will be looking at NLI signing in Nov. 2005 and at that point, if he signs a NLI, that is binding on him.
Recommend you try and make sure what you heard from the coach. $10,000 is a pretty good offer at most schools. Coach may have been saying the offer will be open until July 1 and they will call you then to determine your acceptance and if you don't accept they will move on to their next prospect and make the offer to him. While there is nothing binding until a NLI is signed in November, if you accept the offer on July 1, most every coach is willing to put it in writing and send the NLI in November. I suggest you make sure you know exactly how the coach has phrased his offer. If there is a July 1 deadline, do a lot of research and soul searching and also exploring of options with schools, coaches and programs where you have more interest.

He can sign an NLI in Nov of this year and that is legally binding. If he IS not sure, then he should wait. Alot of schools are now filling their 1st needs with the early signing period in NOV...if he has not pursued other schools, now is the time.

Last Nov, alot of kids I know signed early. They had researched their school choices and felt it was a good fit, as well as taking the pressure off of the recruiting process.

However, several had early offers and waited a few weeks to long into August and their offers were withdrawn, and they were told they were no longer a possible recruit. Some schools are that way...be careful before you commit.

Good Luck!!

$10,000 a year means one year. There are no 4 year deals. Having said that, as long as your son holds up his end of the bargin it usually renews every year and can even increase.

CV

bootsbuck -
The most important thing your son can do now is research college options so that he DOES have a list of schools he is interested in attending. Then, make sure that he is prepared to ask very specific questions regarding any offer a coach may make after July 1st. (Having a preset list of questions by the phone is helpful.) It is very very important to understand an offer and what it covers. IMO do not agree to anything until your son is SURE this is the school for him. Posters are correct in that many offers will come with a limited time to decide and it can be stressful if you are not prepared. Remember, College coaches talk among themselves and offers will stop coming once they've heard of your verbal agreement. As far as an offer for $10,000, it sounds great but really depends on the cost of the school. I prefer to have the offer as a "percent" of the overall cost of attending (tuition, room, board, books). Is $10,000 75% of the cost or 25%, as you will need to be able to financially handle the balance. With a percent offer, if tuition costs rise over the next 1 1/2 years it will not impact the value of your scholarship. Good Luck to your son!