Please research financial aid options before ruling out strong D3 schools

[Guest]

Maybe true if the player is a unicorn, which is more or less a D1 level player.

And it would be different for a player with significant financial need who would get admitted anyway at a school that promises to meet their need. (In which case I would question the decision to play soccer in college. Do research or an internship. Maybe different for football, where alumni can get you a job on Wall Street)

But for replacement level players (athletically and academically), which is usually 90 to 100% of D3 soccer teams, coaches are under a lot of pressure to bring in full pay students. There is no reason to take on a player who needs substantial financial aid when there are several other players in his funnel who could fill that spot and pay full tuition.

The added context is that there is a lot of pressure on colleges around the admissions advantages that athletes get. Most of the early decision round at schools is athletes. They get a lot of flack for that. They are not going to allocate financial aid on top of that to replacement level students that wouldn’t otherwise qualify.

And honestly, most colleges probably should do this. There’s nothing special about most athletics at most D3‘s. It’s just another club. They don’t generate revenue. If they aren’t helping to generate alumni donations, it is no different than being in the band.

All of which makes me very much doubt that the first post is a real post.

Also, the D1 recruiting landscape is going to change dramatically in the next year or two with the decrease in roster sizes and increase in scholarship numbers under the NCAA settlement. See the other thread on that.

What is a "D1 level player"?

[Guest]

The problem we found was the timing. Two different NESCAC schools wanted my D to play with them, but were non-committal on anything of substance. Yes, they wanted them to play for them and one spent some time on a PPT showing what/how they will play with her. They then said, in summary, "go on tour and come back to us later and let us know if you are interested". The other said they couldn't get into any significant $$ discussions until several months later.

Their timing was like 8 months after the rest.

[Guest]

The problem we found was the timing. Two different NESCAC schools wanted my D to play with them, but were non-committal on anything of substance. Yes, they wanted them to play for them and one spent some time on a PPT showing what/how they will play with her. They then said, in summary, "go on tour and come back to us later and let us know if you are interested". The other said they couldn't get into any significant $$ discussions until several months later.

Their timing was like 8 months after the rest.

But it’s pretty available Information that nescac only do need based financial aid and no sports. Sounds like they weren’t honest about that with you? Kids are often only allowed to say I’ve committed to the admissions process at….William’s, bates etc.

[Guest]

But it’s pretty available Information that nescac only do need based financial aid and no sports. Sounds like they weren’t honest about that with you? Kids are often only allowed to say I’ve committed to the admissions process at….William’s, bates etc.

Not sure. Doesn't make a lot of sense to pursue someone so hard and then not be honest with them. They entire scenario with NESCACs were weird, and that's coming from a family with several Bowdoin athletes (different sports).

One non-NESCAC school was open and honest and we loved the coach. She knew it was a longshot and encouraged my D to look at D1's and come back after. The rest seemed to take the attitude they get burned a lot so they put it on the player to show them how much they want to go there or something. It was just weird.

[Guest]

Has anyone ever asked a D3 school that if student doesn’t end up playing the sport, what changes with financial package?

[Guest]

Has anyone ever asked a D3 school that if student doesn’t end up playing the sport, what changes with financial package?

If the school is full need nothing happens and honestly since D3 schools aren't allowed to offer athletic scholarships nothing about their financial aid should be impacted by their participation in sports.