As my son (2015) start to get more involved in the process I was unsure about what a scholarship covers. For example, I know that 25% is a good offer but is that 25% of tuition only or 25% of tuition and room/board, books, etc?
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It all depends on the offer and there are many different offers given.
My advice is to make sure that academics are not neglected in HS, this might help cover the costs that baseball dollars will not.
For D1 colleges only, if any baseball athletic aid is offered, it must be at least 25% of a "full grant in aid". That's tuition, fees, room/board, and a fixed amount for books. For colleges in other divisions, or equivalency sports other than baseball in D1, there is no minimum amount, and you'll have to ask to find out what 25% means.
Thanks - that helps a lot!!
The scholarship does not have to be in a percentage form. It could be a dollar figure (equal to 25% or more). And as others have mentioned elsewhere on this site, a % figure will increase each year if tuition/room/board go up, where a dollar amount may not.
Although "25% is a good offer", it is the minimum offer in D1.
Some schools will "stack" academic and athletic and others will not. My son has signed his D1 Letter of Intent this November. He will receive slightly more than 50% with nearly all being academic. The coach only has 11.7 scholarships in athletic money to offer for 35 players. Thats why grades are so important5 because it gives the baseball coaches much more flexibility in offers.
There has to be some misunderstanding there, whammer. As keewart points out, at the D1 level if you get anything at all in baseball money it has to be at least 25%. If your son is getting 50% and "nearly all" of it is academic money, then the rest of it must also be from some non-baseball source, because if he gets any baseball money at all, he's getting at least 25% from there.
The rule was implemented to prevent teams from tying a kid up for "book money" or other small amounts. This way, if you're under 25%, you're 0%, and that means you don't sign an NLI and someone can swoop in and sign you even at the last minute.
I'm not sure the rule is wise, but it is indeed the rule.
It is my understanding that academic money has restrictions as well. Student needs to meet NCAA criteria for academic money or it will effect 11.7 scholarship. I've seen it on one of the treads before (3fingerglove).
GPA,SAT, ACT
If an athlete is getting both an athletic scholarship and academic scholarship(s), the athlete must meet one of these four criteria for the academic scholarship(s) to be exempt from counting against the team's limit of 11.7:
1. Top 10% of HS graduating class,
2. Cumulative GPA of at least 3.500,
3. ACT sum score of at least 105, or
4. SAT score of at least 1200 on reading and math portions.
Midlo Dad, a school can award both an athletic scholarship combined with "other countable financial aid that is equal to or greater than 25 percent of an equivalency." So, the 25% minimum requirement doesn't all have to be an athletic scholarship, although it will count as if it's an athletic scholarship (it won't be exempted as I noted above).
In fact he did qualify under those 4 provisions for academic money that would not count against the athletic Dept. So far all parents and athletes, coaches love being able to get a player with high academics. They can stretch their dollars and get a player who will stay eligible. His package was greater this way than if he was to get 25-30% in athletic funding.