My daughter, an athletic recruit, graduated high school early and was admitted in late November to a direct-admission nursing program with a January 2020 start date. We waited almost a month to receive her financial aid package, and when we finally did, she placed her deposit and declined all other offers of admission. Three days after placing her deposit, the school let her know that they “forgot to mention” for a month, that she made it into a second tier program that requires two extra semesters of study that are not covered by financial aid.
What kind of recourse do we have in this situation?
Is this D1? If so, some NCAA rules about recruiting may apply. What did the college put in writing?
Sounds like d3 since the OP talks about FA not athletic scholarships.
No, this program is DIII.
Her acceptance letter says she was accepted into Nursing. This year, they have started putting students into either an 8 semester track or a 10 semester track, previously unbeknownst to us. The Director of Admissions is her counselor and her email to let her know of the mistake basically says “oops, we forgot to tell you this… But the 10 semester program is great!”
The other offers she declined were for 8 semester nursing programs, additionally with offers to join honors programs.
I don’t know if you have any recourse.
There is database of rules infractions including for D3.
Could decline and seek 8 semester college, since you did not seek 10 semester program, nor would your athlete be free to compete for ten semesters, right?
https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/search?types=major&q=
Athletically, she’s free to go to a different school and play immediately. A DIII ‘commitment’ is not binding.
You can check with the other schools and see if their offers are still open. You could then ask those schools to reactivate the applications. Start with the coaches and ask them to help with admissions.
You could also look at D2 schools and see if any of them have spots open. Florida Southern has a lot of athletes in nursing. Athletic money and merit money can stack.
I think your only recourse with the school she accepted is to ask to be put in the other program (that’s a no I guess?) or to ask for your deposit back. I think your chances of that are better since you accepted based on the cost of 4 years not 5. You, the parent, should call the admissions adviser. When it comes to money, I feel the parents should step in.
Academically, was this binding ED or a rolling admissions non binding admission for a BSN program?
Check with the state’s Board of Nursing whether this ten semester program is accredited…