Pay to Play Private Colleges

BK_Razorback- While the few schools you've listed certainly aren't at the same level as Vanderbilt and Stanford on the field, I think you'd be surprised to see how high the level of play is nonetheless. They are certainly not "pay to play" schools, if that term actually exists at the collegiate level.

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I just recently heard the term "expensive pay to play private college" a few days ago. Are private colleges (i.e. Duke, BC, ND) really viewed as a places that a lesser player can pay high tuition to play for a less competitive program? Obviously Vandy & Standford are an exception to this.

BKRazorback,

I recently saw the post your are mentioning and I've heard the term in the past.

As with anything in life, you always have to consider the source. Someone willing to make a statement like that on a board like this has either a limited view, experience or understanding of private colleges, college baseball and the recruiting process. Personally, I got a chuckle out of it.

A word to the wise: If you speak to one of the coaches from Duke, BC, or ND (or countless other private universities where earning a place on the roster is just as tough as at the majority of state-supported colleges), don't even hint that they might be considered "pay for play" unless you're more than an arm's length away from them.

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don't even hint that they might be considered "pay for play" unless you're more than an arm's length away from them.

LOL! Or just wear this:

If Duke were pay to play, they wouldn't have just bounced their coach for not winning. DOH!

There's another way of looking at this thread. I remember reading a story about Dartmouth's recruiting strategy where they target high income zip codes to find players. They understand that finding the diamonds in the rough who can qualify to attend an Ivy League school and have the baseball talent to compete at that level is not easy. Also, despite the fact that many of the Ivy's have excellent financial aid, it is not a limitless budget. Therefore the target market for players at such schools are often found in the wealthier areas of the country.

I would suggest that given the high cost of attendance at these private schools and the fact that total scholarhips available are (at best) 11.7, that coaches need to find talented players who's families not only value education but also can afford paying full price - at $ 60,000 a year- for such an education at a private schoool.

Another unique aspect of the high tuition private schools is that coaches will give a higher percentage of scholarships to a smaller number of players. This practice was first implemented at USC years ago and is still used today. The other side of the coin is that a larger number of players will have just the minimum or zero $$ available in the budget.

The end result is at private schools you have a larger percentage of players on the roster paying either full tuition or a larger percentage of the tuition than you would find at other schools. If you want to cynically call it pay to play fine, but many of the players who may fit this type at my son's school are very very talented baseball players who have earned their spot on the roster and work hard for whatever playing time they get (like everyone else on the roster).

Finally if the questioner's purpose was to ask if a school would significantly lower their recruiting standards for a player willing to pay full price to gain access to their roster, those opportunities are few and far between at best, imo.

Excellent post!

In my personal experience, the term "pay to play college" wasn't referring at all to Div. I schools such as Duke, BC, ND, or even mid-major Div. I programs. It was referring to schools (private or public, either one) that use their sports teams to drive enrollment.

For example, one small private college with an enrollment of 650 is planning to start a football team. Football will be the 21st varsity sport at that school. You can imagine the percentage of the student body that are athletes. That school has limited funding for athletic scholarships, so those athletes are certainly "paying to play."

In my experience you will not find anyplace that is play for pay. Especially at any D-1. These coaches value winning and you will not make the roster if you cannot play. BTW the Ivy League schools recruit the best Student Atheletes regardless of socio economic class. They all offer enough financial aide to cover a students needs, both athletes and non athletes.