Tag Archive for: Scholarship Strategies
Each year about this time, we receive a few inquiries from parents whose son or daughter is having second thoughts about attending the college with which they’ve signed a scholarship or made a commitment to.
The most common reason that a student-athlete wants to de-commit from their signed scholarship offer with a university is because the coach that recruited them has left for a job at another school.
In these situations, we strongly advise the student-athlete to decide what they want to do BEFORE the semester starts.
There are a few important reasons for this:
- If your athlete starts attending classes and then wants to leave, it could potentially cost thousands of dollars in withdrawal fees, dorm charges, etc.
- Starting the semester and then withdrawing could also result in zero credit hours on their transcript for the semester. This will damage their eligibility for the spring semester at their current college or at another college as a transfer student.
- When a student-athlete starts attending classes, it triggers the start of their “five-year clock” if they are currently (or hope to be in the future) a Division I athlete. If they are a DII or DIII athlete, it will be counted as using one of their 10 semesters of full-time enrollment.
If your athlete is having “second thoughts” and you’d like to discuss possible options and consequences, contact us at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com
To schedule a phone consult or an email consult online, click Scholarship Strategies Consult Options.
An NCAA Division I or II athlete who was on scholarship during the 2017-18 academic year must be notified no later than July 1 if their scholarship will be reduced or not renewed for the 2018-19 academic year.
The official notification must come from the university’s financial aid office, and must include information about the opportunity to appeal the reduction or cancellation.
If your athlete has been verbally informed by the coach that their scholarship is being reduced or won’t be renewed for next year, but has not yet received the official notice described above, I suggest that you request information about the hearing opportunity as soon as possible.
Otherwise, if you wait to receive the official notification from the financial aid office, you could be waiting until near the end of July before a campus committee hears your appeal.
Here’s an example of how much delay could occur:
– Athlete is verbally informed by the coach at the end of their season in May that their scholarship won’t be renewed for next year.
-But, the athlete is waiting for the written notification, and assumes that it may come after final exams, so doesn’t act on the word from the coach. The official notice actually isn’t sent to the athlete until late June.
-When the athlete receives the notice, he/she considers it for a couple of days, and now it’s early July when the athlete wants to request the appeal, but the campus is closed for the July 4th holiday.
-The university may have up to 30 days from receiving the athlete’s request for appeal in which to conduct the hearing (depending upon school policy), so it’s now late July or early August before the hearing takes place and a ruling is determined.
Obviously, not much time to plan for the 2018-19 school year!!!
Contact us at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com if you have questions about scholarship reductions or non-renewals.