Offers that are too good?

Guess I don't see anyone bragging about anything involved in this thread.  Sure some people fib or don't tell everything about offers and scholarships.  Truth is, most baseball scholarships are in the 25% range.  They have to be because the top recruits are getting  a much higher %.  Also, I've seen where people say there is no such thing as a full (100%) scholarship. Truth is, sometimes that is exactly what it takes to get certain players And it does happen much more than some people think. More often than not, the top recruits will be over 60%, even over 75% in many cases. 100% is 100% of everything, 100% of tuition is not 100% And would not be considered 1 full scholarship.

to answer an earlier question if I understand correctly... Yes, if one player gets 75%, 25% is available for another player. Add them all up to reach your maximum.  

Keep in mind that a lot goes into which offer is best.  25% at one college can be a lot different than 25% at a different school.  The best way to look at any offer financially is to determine how much it will cost. In some cases a 25% can be better than a 75% at a different college. That is without even taking into account any academic money. Of course, all colleges are not equal in value either.

Some states have grants that allow a college to stock up on talented players using very little of their scholarship allotment. Think about what a big advantage that is! Maybe that is why they started the 25% rule. Still these colleges could have 5 or 6 walk ons with All American ability going to school for free. Some of you know all about this.  I think it's a great situation for some baseball programs and a lot of deserving kids.

Then there is the difference with the way colleges handle in state and out of state tuition.  There is a lot to all this stuff, so to simplify things, you might want to concentrate on two things... Happiness and the bottom line, the true cost, out of pocket expense. Take all those %s out of the process and I think it gets a little easier.

I hear people talk about "Dream Colleges" a lot.  I urge people, do not allow this to be the #1 thing.  Sometimes the dream school turns out great, but we have seen so many cases where the "Dream School" turned into a "Nightmare Experience".

PGStaff - thanks for a neat post. Your comment on the in-state versus out-of-state situation brings up something that has been in the back of my mind recently:

 I presume that a 25% scholarship covers 25% at the applicable in-state or out-of-state cost, which would make the out-of-state players "more expensive."  Am I thinking along the correct lines, or am I missing something.

PG,

Excellent!

I have known players with 100% scholarships, but not all baseball money. Especially from those programs that fully fund.  The bottom line is that 100% (of a full scholarship) is 100%, regardless of how it is made up.  That's why academics are sooooooo very important, what you can't get in athletic grant in aid (at a program that may be the right fit) you can get from a very good GPA.

I also know of players who get no athletic aid, but on full academic scholarships and although considered as a walk on, play every game.

Your comment "happiness and the bottom line, the true cost and out of pocket expense" should be the main focus.

Always.

 Yes the 25% is taken with respect to the in-state or out-of-state charge.  The NCAA requires that.

Unless a player is getting 100%, the cost to him or his parents is higher, simply because the total charge is higher.

For the college, "more expensive" depends.  If the school is well funded, then perhaps the primary currency is the equivalency--the school has only 11.7.  Other schools may be worried about the outlay of dollars more so than equivalencies.  But even those schools may not find an out-of-state player to be more expensive, because the actual cost to the college of providing a college education to a student is usually the same regardless of place of residence.  So it can be more of an accounting issue.  

Still, I think baseball programs at most state schools would consider an out-of-state player to be more expensive.

It is an accounting issue, but an important one.

The athletic dept and each sport (at State schools) has a certain amount of money for scholarships. They owe X to the general fund of the college for an in-state scholarship athlete and X+Y, representing the out-of-state premium, for an out-of-stater.

As far as I know, it is only State schools that have different costs based on State of residence

PG staff, you said:

Some states have grants that allow a college to stock up on talented players using very little of their scholarship allotment.

Which ones?

I'm sure PGStaff can better answer but from what I understand...large endowments serve as a slush funds at some private schools such as Stanford, Rice and Vandy that allow them to offer money outside the 11.7. You could be asked to walk-on and never pay a penny.

I think what PG was referring to are state run programs that allow for tuition assistance or even complete academic scholarships to in state students at state colleges that meet certain criteria.

Pretty sure FL and possibly GA are two states that have some type of program in place.

I used to say I had never seen a true 100% offer, but the last 2 years I have seen a couple.  Blew my mind, but they really happened.  In at least one of the cases, the kid ended up going pro out of HS, so the money got tied up and then the team ended up with 1.0 of its 11.7 not working for it on the field.  I guess they could go sign four at 25% each out of JuCo's or something over that summer, if they had roster room.

Very high offers at high level conferences are rare but again, they do happen.  A few that I've seen involved players who signed NLI's at lower levels, but then became such high pro draft prospects that the program threw more money at them to try to get them to come to campus.  Also, this past summer, I saw a player offered 95% at a CWS-level SEC school, but with the proviso that the out-of-state player would have to take a "common market" major.  That is, they were offering him 95% of the in-state cost, so for it to actually represent 95% of his total bill he'd have to limit his choice of major. 

Other times I have seen programs offer "75% of full tuition" and try to sell that like it was a 75% ride, which it is not. 

I always file those experiences away so that when we deal with guys on our team talking to those schools, the families know not to get snowed.

Like many of you above, when people start talking about very high offers from CWS level programs, I tend to be skeptical.  But let's not go so far as to say it never happens.  I know for a fact it does.

Just, not very often.

I know of at least one 2015 who has received a D1 offer in excess of that 75% figure....and the coach offering him saw him play 1 time....at a PG WWBA event this summer.  It's unusual....but it does happen.

Probably the only way for a walk-on to not pay a penny would be to be if he was pretty low income. Academic merit scholarships at these schools are EXTREMELY difficult to get; in order to get one of the very very few available, the player would have to be at the top of the general admitted student pool. These schools' main goal is to provide full need-based aid to anyone who qualifies, since they don't have to use academic merit $ to attract top students. *Institutional need-based aid and athletic $ can't be combined.*

   You're right, though...excellent financial aid does stretch those scholarship dollars further. The hard part I would think would be convincing a kid to be a walk-on when he has athletic $ elsewhere.

Florida offers "bright futures" scholarships, and Georgia offers "Hope scholarships", that pay all tuition for in-state students who meet certain GPA standards.

So, if you're an in-state kid for whom tuition would represent roughly 55% of the total cost of attending, then a FL or GA state-supported university can make your education completely free to you (equivalent to a 100% ride) while spending only 45% (or 0.45 of its 11.7) on you.

When you realize how much talent is readily available in FL and GA, you can see why places like UF, FSU, UGA and Ga. Tech are perennial powerhouses.  Even if they do go after a marginal student, they have money to spare to do that because of all the other guys they landed on the cheap.

Just a quick correction - Florida's Bright Futures does not pay 100% of tuition. Depending on what state school you go to, the highest award might cover a little over half of tuition, but not fees, books or housing. The amount provided is also different for 4-year and 2-year schools. My son just graduated from a Florida JUCO where he had the highest level of Bright Futures, which paid about $60 per credit hour, and the cost per credit hour was around $100. Now he's at a FL D2 and it's just a small part of his financial aid package. It's still nice to have though!

Highest Bright Futures award paid for tuition in FL is 103 per credit hour (4 year/ FAS) and agree does not cover anything but tuition. 

Thanks for the corrrection.  I guess it's a good thing my brother moved out of FL, because he was figuring on more help than he would've gotten for his daughter!

That being said, the principles are the same, just the impact is not as great as I had thought.