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Son just received his NLI from a Power-5 school. To our surprise, the scholarship is lower from sophomore through senior year. Only the freshman year the % is the same as the verbal offer. Son asked his college coach, he said it's just the placeholder and we will get the same amount the next few years. Son also asked the other recruit in his class, it's the same deal. Tomorrow is the NLI signing date, should we sign it? Is it normal?

 

 

 

 

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If it's just a placeholder, then why wouldn't it hold the same amount?

It will be what you sign.  If it is xx% less in year 2 and another xx% less in year 3, that's what your son will get.

I wouldn't believe for a moment what he's saying.  My son's specified the same amount each year, so I know that his "placeholder" is the same.

Up to you whether you sign, but know that whatever you sign is the only amount you'll have any leverage to receive.  While the coach MAY give more than is specified, he certainly can't be held to anything other than what you agree to on the LOI.

Last edited by Nuke83

Happened to a friend of ours.  They were told one thing as a sophomore in HS (one of first recruits for that P5 team).  Takes his name out of recruiting. 

When time to sign comes, the NLI's 1st year is at the agreed %, the remaining years were SIGNIFICANTLY lower and they were told the same thing, that "it will be adjusted, this is how we have to do it for the NCAA". 

They signed............didn't play much the 1st year, bill in mail for sophomore year came with the NLI %.  Parents not happy, kid not happy. Paid money for fall semester.  Fall meeting..........."you're not going to play much, so it might be better".

Needless to say mominfortworth has deleted this coach from rising 2022's list of schools.

 

Interesting topic - not something we had to deal with as scholarships were just year-to-year when our sons went through.  Still, we had the conversation with the coach about subsequent years and in the end had to just trust them...or not?  (We did and it worked out).

It seems to me, without the benefit of this experience with written vs. "promised" word, it will just boil down to trusting (or not) the coach's word.  At this late date, it puts the player/parent in a difficult situation.  I would've expected this to be explained to him at the time of his commitment, not now.

Last edited by justbaseball

Whether or not a kid has a four year scholarship if he hears “we don’t see you in our plans next year” he’s most likely going to leave. If the family can’t afford the school with what’s offered on paper it’s probably wise to pass. Doing well in class and on the field is challenging enough without constantly worrying about next year and following years. 

On the flip side, making another choice at this late date probably means a JuCo. He can take the offer and leave for a JuCo after freashman year if the coach isn’t true to his word. 

As others seem to be suggesting this situation is a red flag.

Last edited by RJM

So, we've got a lot of intellectual horsepower on this thread....myself not included....my son did not have to sign an NLI so I have not experienced it.  I agree with JustBaseball that this should have been explained at the time of commitment.

Given the situation, what are TAO's sons options?  Based on what has discussed so far, it doesn't seem like there are many.

 

Sounds like you are signing the equivalent of an adjustable rate mortgage (but opposite). If it doesn’t commit the school to what was promised, why should you commit? Probably hard to make a decision in the opposite direction now, emotions are involved by player and families. Poor form on the part of the school, and the fact they dropped that on you at the last second should tell you they aren’t operating in good faith.

As I mentioned before, scholarships are renewable year to year. The NLI doesn't extended itself past the first year. There should be no verbage in the NLI regarding sophmore-senior year as far as I know. I am not familiar with 4 year guaranteed scholarships, which are handed out pretty sparingly. 

All the NLI does is guarantee a "place" for you on the roster next year.  The rest is up to your son to give the reason for the coach not to let you go.

 

 

 

TPM posted:

As I mentioned before, scholarships are renewable year to year. The NLI doesn't extended itself past the first year. There should be no verbage in the NLI regarding sophmore-senior year as far as I know. I am not familiar with 4 year guaranteed scholarships, which are handed out pretty sparingly. 

All the NLI does is guarantee a "place" for you on the roster next year.  The rest is up to your son to give the reason for the coach not to let you go.

 

 

 

I think all Power 5 schools have to offer four-year NLIs. Here's Rick's post on the topic from a couple of years ago: http://informedathlete.com/the...caa-di-scholarships/

2019Dad posted:
TPM posted:

As I mentioned before, scholarships are renewable year to year. The NLI doesn't extended itself past the first year. There should be no verbage in the NLI regarding sophmore-senior year as far as I know. I am not familiar with 4 year guaranteed scholarships, which are handed out pretty sparingly. 

All the NLI does is guarantee a "place" for you on the roster next year.  The rest is up to your son to give the reason for the coach not to let you go.

 

 

 

I think all Power 5 schools have to offer four-year NLIs. Here's Rick's post on the topic from a couple of years ago: http://informedathlete.com/the...caa-di-scholarships/

Wasn't sure on that as a guarantee for power 5, but if that is the case, someone either misunderstood or  was misled and figured out how to get around the requirement.

I think he has no choice but to go ahead and sign and let the chips fall. Good post for folks to understand how important it is to ask questions after committing.

Last edited by TPM

FWIW. We were part of the first year of 4 year guaranteed scholarships. Sounds really good until it's not. Coaches are still going to bring in your replacement if they can. Some coaches I'm sure don't like the fact that they have to offer 4 year deals. This is their way around it. Even if it is spelled out as was at commitment, if they want you out, they will find a way. Kids want to play baseball, not sit on the bench. Once the shine wears off, reality sits in and what's on the NLI & the financial agreement don't mean much if you're not playing.

Sign it with eyes open. Work hard & be ready to compete. Nothing is guaranteed. 

TPM posted:

As I mentioned before, scholarships are renewable year to year. The NLI doesn't extended itself past the first year. There should be no verbage in the NLI regarding sophmore-senior year as far as I know. I am not familiar with 4 year guaranteed scholarships, which are handed out pretty sparingly. 

All the NLI does is guarantee a "place" for you on the roster next year.  The rest is up to your son to give the reason for the coach not to let you go.

 

 

 

In our case, there were two parts of agreement. The NLI was accompanied by a financial agreement. The FA lays out the %/$ amount that states each for year 1,2,3 & 4. 

Picked Off posted:
TPM posted:

As I mentioned before, scholarships are renewable year to year. The NLI doesn't extended itself past the first year. There should be no verbage in the NLI regarding sophmore-senior year as far as I know. I am not familiar with 4 year guaranteed scholarships, which are handed out pretty sparingly. 

All the NLI does is guarantee a "place" for you on the roster next year.  The rest is up to your son to give the reason for the coach not to let you go.

 

 

 

In our case, there were two parts of agreement. The NLI was accompanied by a financial agreement. The FA lays out the %/$ amount that states each for year 1,2,3 & 4. 

That would make sense because the NLI is an NCAA requirement for all conferences, divisions, the financials aren't, only within conference.

Looks like I need to make a couple of comments about that article from our website that 2019DAD included the link for, (and will need to update the article). 

First of all, I hope folks understand that the article was intended as an overview of the new scholarship rules as they were understood at that time, but was not meant to address the many different situations of how scholarship offers are written when it comes to equivalency sports like baseball, softball, track, wrestling, etc.  

If a recruit to a Power 5 school signs just a one-year scholarship as a freshman for 50% (for example), that Power 5 school CANNOT reduce that scholarship in future years for any athletic reason (such as non-performance, didn't improve as the coaches expected) or for a medical reason.  They would have to use one of the other reasons that were noted in the article, because they did not indicate at the outset in a multi-year agreement that following years would be at a lower amount.   

However, if a recruit signs a multi-year scholarship and the years are for different amounts, then things become more complicated.  Here's two examples:

If a multi-year scholarship is written as 50% PER YEAR for five years, then the scholarship can't be lowered in future years unless the athlete goes ineligible, violates team rules, or has a misconduct issue that must be handled by the school's student conduct board.  The scholarship could be increased however, but we know that doesn't happen very often.

If a multi-year scholarship is written to indicate that it will provide an AVERAGE of 50% over five years, then adjusting the scholarship from year to year would be permissible.  However, as was mentioned earlier, if the scholarship is reduced and the athlete receives little to no playing time, they are likely to end up transferring (which is probably what the coach is counting on).   

While it may not be realistic, because it would damage the relationship the recruit will have with the coach before he ever arrives on campus, the recruit could choose to sign only the school's athletic scholarship agreement, but not sign the NLI.  

He would then have the option to sign another scholarship agreement with another school if a better offer came along in the spring.  Risky, no doubt, but a possibility to consider. 

Some of the highly publicized basketball recruits have been using that strategy so that they are not committed through the NLI to the school if that coach is fired or leaves for another school before the recruit arrives on campus.  

Thanks all for the replies. I'll ask my son to call the head coach and admission office for more clarification. Not sure if they can alter the NLI  to the same amount as originally offered. It's really a surprise as we were under the impression that the Power-5 schools can't reduce the scholarship.  

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