AT WHAT COST: Pursuing athletic scholarships is expensive for families

[fenwaysouth]

<p>THe last time I checked this is the UNited States. There are options for those that have earned them on the athletic field and in the classroom. It is a priviledge to play college atheltics, and you can walk away at any point. I would not lose a wink of sleep if my son decided to hang up his baseball cleats. It is his choice to continue playing baseball and pursuing an engineering degree.</p>

<p>The “investment” ($, time) that you put into it is strictly up to you. I know many parents that have put many ten of thousands of dollars over the last 10 years for travel baseball with the expectation that they would make it up in college scholarships…that is a bad assumption for baseball as I would expect it to be in other sports. I also know many people that have decided on a college because they offered more D1 scholarship dollars than another school. Most of those same people are switching majors to something less strenuous because of their sport…that is not acceptable in my view. IN our case, we did not pursue those kinds of colleges. The currency of D1 is money. It is not the way I would select a college, but there are folks out there that do go that route. I wish them the best of luck. </p>

<p>My wife and I have a vastly different philosphy. We will provide opportunities for our children, and they will select the best educational path whether it include college athletics or not. It absolutely fascinates me how many people put athletics first and education second in this country. I’ve always wondered how many other people in other countries put athletics ahead of education.</p>

<p>I’ve read the Atlantic article on the shame of college sports and it is disturbing. In addition, if you really want to get rankled read: Beer and Circus by Murray Sperber and how big time athletics is eroding undergraduate education due to the NCAA, College President policies with regard to research and graduate studies, and ESPN. That book has really hit home with me and will change how I look at undergraduate education going forward with my 17 year old and 14 year old. There are many choices out there and it is up to us to do the research for that undergraduate education. Be very careful in your assumptions, as things are not as they appear in college athletics and undergraduate education.</p>

[ready2bdone]

<p>When mentioning admissions rates for athletics, I think one thing is often forgotten. To get to that athletic tip or likely letter, the athlete has already competed against hundreds of other players. At one school my DD looked at, the coach said she had over 800 recruits for 6 spots. Obviously that comes to a less than 1% acceptance rate just to get the tip or promise of a likely letter. Then the student athlete has to get accepted by admissions. And this was a strong academic school but not a top 10 athletic program. </p>

<p>That said we never looked at athletics as the way for my DD to get into a college. She geared her search to which schools she wanted to attend on an academic basis and then it would be a bonus if she could play her sport. In our opinion, the experiences, friends, challenges, victories and defeats, lessons learned, etc. through her sport were worth every penny spent.</p>

[sandiego4866]

<p>“… the experiences, friends, challenges, victories and defeats, lessons learned, etc. through her sport were worth every penny spent.”</p>

<p>Well said. They are priceless life experiences.</p>

<p>“…the coach said she had over 800 recruits for 6 spots.” </p>

<p>Only a handful of those “recruits” were likely prospects. Understanding where
a HS student-athlete stands in the pecking order of recruits is a tough, though
not impossible job. </p>

<p>The same general rules apply to that process as they do with academics with
both match and reach schools. My own D ending up at an athletic match school only
after falling short at her athletic reach options.</p>

[ready2bdone]

<p>Sandiego, you are absolutely right. Not all those 800 players were qualified but the same can be said for some of the applicants for ‘regular’ admissions to highly selective schools. I think my DD’s recruiting process was successful because we focused on the academic fit first and that fit actually led her away from some of the more highly ranked schools in her sport that were recruiting her. Thus she was a ‘sought after’ recruit for her academic school whereas she may have been one of several high level recruits being evaluated for a top 25 program.</p>

[cbrand]

<p>Our friend’s daughter was a volleyball superstar recruited by so many schools that their mailman threatened to quit delivering mail to their home. In the end, she was given a full ride to the school of her choice. However, all this came at a steep price and we are not just talking about the money. She devoted 7 years of her life to her sport. During the club season, she and her mother drove 3 hours 5 times a week to practice with the best club team in the state. Weekends were spent at tournaments. For years, the only family vacations they ever took were to travel to watch her play. (How’d you like to be her younger sibling?)</p>

<p>Then, she quit volleyball after her Freshman year. She was burned out. She is an excellent student and she wanted to be a student. She knew her future did not lie in professional volleyball. She resented having to miss class to fly to games and it was very, very difficult to take a full load of challenging classes while at the same time devoting so much time to practice. She has had to take out loans and she will have quite a lot of debt to pay off when she graduates, but she is happy with her decision and she has picked up a second major.</p>

<p>Ironically, even though she had offers from Ivies, she chose to attend a well known public school with a very strong sport’s program. This is a school she could have gotten into based solely on her IB diploma, grades, test scores and a plain old varsity sport. Her mom says that in hind sight, encouraging their daughter to get on the elite sports treadmill was the worst decision she and her husband ever made. At the time, the promise of a full scholarship was such a draw, but now they realize that as a family, a whole chunk of their lives was eaten up in the process.</p>

[TheGFG]

<p>Good points about the elimination that occurs well before the Likely Letter/NLI stage. D attends a school that is equally strong in athletics and academics. In an article, the AD talked about the difficulty the school faces in recruiting. He said that of the top 100 recruits in any given sport, an average of only 10 would be academically qualified for the school. And obviously, other schools also want the same kids. Therefore, coaches need to also find great students who are very good athletes in hopes of making them into great athletes. So, to reiterate what skrlvr was saying, these kids are pre-screened and carefully selected for smarts as well as sports. They do not simply waltz in to the elite schools.</p>

[pathways]

<p>Some sports cost less than others…</p>

<p>My D is a track recruit (w/top 20 Lacs). Our costs have been a new pair of shoes each season and local club/race fees (~$600 a year). No private coaches/trainers/airfares/recruiting videos. Because individual results are timed/measured/ posted on shared databases, coaches are privy to national, regional and state leaders. </p>

<p>The focus for D is and has been on enjoyment, not resume enhancement (she’s only been competing in track for 3 years and has not hit a wall yet --metaphorically speaking). It seems that strong grades, SATs, and athletics is a winning formula for college admissions at selective schools. We didn’t know this until we stumbled onto CC two years ago, which BTW has help us enormously with the whole recruiting process.</p>

<p>Having no plan can be OK…</p>

<p>Interestingly, college coaches say they are even MORE interested in her as a recruit because she is fairly new to the sport, not well trained and enthusiastic…there’s room for improvement in college. She has long history of sports involvement prior to high school – basketball, soccer, swim team, and tennis (middle school & town youth leagues). All unfocused, cheap and fun… and certainly not what the “college admissions gurus” would recommend (i.e., developing the well-pointed child). Go figure!</p>

[cbw123]

<p>Folks, remember this word - FOREIGNERS.</p>

<p>In some sports, tennis … they can make up most of the team.</p>

<p>Want to know where your state dollars are going for state schools.</p>

<p>In tennis, you now have all foreigner state tennis teams.</p>

<p>And sure, some foreigners can bring up the team.</p>

<p>But, what about if there are no Americans on the team?</p>

<p>It is hard to be All American, when there are no Americans.</p>

<p>There is a lot of competition out there.</p>

<p>And until Americans start complaining, it is going to get a lot worse…</p>

<p>[BBC</a> News - US college tennis: Simmering row over foreign players](<a href=“http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12561534]BBC”>US college tennis: Simmering row over foreign players - BBC News)</p>

<p>Baylor tennis team’s international talent</p>

<p>Debate over foreign players in US college tennis</p>

<p>No other American college sport has more international players than tennis. But with tens of millions of dollars in scholarships going to foreign-born players each year, critics argue that the use of non-American athletes has got to be reined in for the good of home-grown students.</p>

<p>Head coach Joey Scrivano is preparing for one of the biggest tournaments of the season. He calls his players simply “kiddo” and his team the “Bears”. But a look at the scoreboard tells a bigger story about the Baylor University women’s tennis team.</p>

<p>Names like Secerbegovic, Nakic, Stanivuk, Novakova and Filipiak fill the roster for the team from Waco, Texas. Baylor was listed as the top team in the US last spring, but did not have a single American player on the team.</p>

<p>When Baylor hired him in 2003, Scrivano’s mission was to develop the best tennis programme in the country. “I believe I should be able to win and so I will find the best players who are going to be competitive,” he says.</p>

<p>Scrivano is not alone. Six of the 16 teams competing at the ITA Indoor Championship in Virginia have more international players than Americans. The top 25 teams in men’s and women’s tennis list 175 players from abroad - some 37% of all players.</p>

<p>The Baylor women’s team has won the Big 12 conference title for six straight years.
‘Mercenary athletes’
Veteran coaches and tennis officials agree that the best American players have long been opting to play for a small handful of traditional tennis powerhouses, leaving little US talent for schools like Baylor to recruit.</p>

<p>“It’s a dilemma for the coach who is under pressure to win and has a limited number of outstanding American players available,” says David Benjamin, the President of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).</p>

<p>With more money and prestige in college sports, the pressure is on the coaches and the athletic directors, says Benjamin. “It’s a lot tougher now. You might not get fired, but you might not get a bonus, either.”</p>

<p>For decades, Stanford University has had no problem attracting top American tennis talent, and has won the national title in women’s tennis six times in the last 10 years. Stanford won the ITA Indoor Championship this February with no international players on its 11-woman roster.</p>

<p>Not being able to recruit the top athletes stateside should not be an excuse for tennis coaches, says Lele Forood, Stanford head coach. “It’s gone well beyond what it should be. You are basically renting players and have mercenary athletes that help you win championships.”</p>

<p>Continue reading the main story
EXPERT OPINION</p>

<p>“
Start Quote</p>

<p>I don’t think that was the mission of college tennis to basically fill your team with internationals.”</p>

<p>Tim Cass, University of New Mexico
Coaches and officials join the debate
Some of the international players flowing into the American system come through Anton Rudjuk, who was one of the first Russian-born players in the US and now runs a recruiting service for players and coaches.</p>

<p>Since 2004, he has helped over 600 athletes find playing time and scholarships at US colleges.</p>

<p>“It was intimidating for the coaches at first and they didn’t want to spend the dollars,” says Rudjuk, who has brought between 25-30 coaches to Russia. “We broke the door down, offered recruiting trips, and rented the courts so that they can check out the players in person.”</p>

<p>The higher you go in the team rankings, the more international players you will find, says Rudjuk. “Obviously the pressure is on.”</p>

<p>Scholarships
Rudjuk’s players pay him between $1,500-2,000 (£925-1,133) up front for the consultation, the connection to a coach, and help with the paperwork. He does not guarantee a spot but the reward, a four-year scholarship to some of the top schools in the US, can be worth 40 times the investment.</p>

<p>In the top 25 women teams about 40 percent of the scholarships in Division 1 go to international players. The top 25 schools in Division 2 award about 70 percent of their 6 scholarships per team to female players from abroad.</p>

<p>Many in college tennis say that international players are often older than their American high school counterparts. Some of them have been unsuccessful as professional players, and use college tennis as a second chance - and an opportunity for free education.</p>

<p>Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote</p>

<p>A player like John Isner needed those four years in his development and the added push that the high competition level provided.”</p>

<p>Erica Perkins
USTA Junior & Collegiate Manager
“It’s a fairness issue,” says Geoff Macdonald, who coaches one international player on his women’s team at Vanderbilt University. “I don’t think the intent of Title IX was for a European pro to come here and take a scholarship from an American kid who might not be as good.”</p>

<p>Title IX was signed into law in 1972 and requires equal funding for boys and girls in every educational program under federal funding. It has resulted in a significant increase in scholarships available for female sports, such as college tennis.</p>

<p>But with more than 5,700 scholarships available for both men’s and women’s tennis, David Benjamin, the ITA president, argues some schools would leave money on the table if they did not allocate it to international players.</p>

<p>“It’s hard to find an American girl who doesn’t get a scholarship,” says Benjamin. “There is less opportunity in the top teams for American players, but they can still get a scholarship somewhere else.”</p>

<p>Pro effect
There are only four Americans in the top 20 in men’s and women’s professional tennis, and the Williams sisters are two of them.</p>

<p>Former coaches like Tim Cass, now associate athletic director at the University of New Mexico, say more scholarships for international players means fewer Americans will make their way up to the professional level.</p>

<p>“Those kids stop playing at the age of 18 as opposed to 22 and tennis is not a part of their life anymore.”</p>

<p>Continue reading the main story
New NCAA Rule</p>

<p>The National Collegiate Athletic Association passed a bylaw that requires all players start their collegiate career within six months of their high school class graduation
that law will take effect in August 2012 and is meant to stop older international players from starting as freshmen after unsuccessful attempts in the professional tours overseas
Among proponents and critics alike, there is widespread agreement that international players raise the level of college tennis, and the US Tennis Association (USTA) argues it helps in the development of future US professional players.</p>

<p>“A player like John Isner needed those four years in his development and the added push that the high competition level provided,” says Erica Perkins, Manager for Junior and Collegiate Competition at the USTA.</p>

<p>But for parents like Wayne Bryan, whose sons Bob and Mike played at Stanford and are currently the best men’s double team in the world, the sport was not meant to purely develop professional players but to provide important life lessons for student athletes.</p>

<p>“I don’t think college tennis should be a world-class sport. And you shouldn’t have to compete with the world to play at Baylor or any other place.”</p>

<p>Limiting the amount of scholarships that are given to international players, as some coaches and officials demand, would conflict with the US constitution, says David Benjamin. In the end it is up to each university and its president to define a mission for their sports program.</p>

<p>“We are a global village, and that is not unique to college tennis.”</p>

[cbw123]

<p>[FOREIGN</a> PLAYERS IN COLLEGE TENNIS: SHOULD THEY BENEFIT FROM U.S. TAX DOLLARS? | World Tennis Magazine](<a href=“http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/1799]FOREIGN”>FOREIGN PLAYERS IN COLLEGE TENNIS: SHOULD THEY BENEFIT FROM U.S. TAX DOLLARS? - World Tennis Magazine)</p>

<p>And one more from 2010:</p>

<p>on March 16, 2010</p>

<p>By Charles Bricker</p>

<p>Watching a few moments of a thoroughly unremarkable qualifying match between Bobby Reynolds, that former Vanderbilt Commodore, and young German Christian Blocker, the current No. 2 at the University of Miami, really put me in a college tennis mood for the first time in a few years.</p>

<p>I was soon wondering if the foreign encroachment into U.S. university tennis had finally leveled off. I’m unhappy to report that it hasn’t, and, in fact, it appears the European/Asian/South American takeover over NCAA tennis is stronger than ever, prompting the rhetorical question: How can you be an All-American if you’re not an American at all?</p>

<p>Seven of the top 10 men and five of the top 10 women in NCAA Division I are foreigners and, if you project those numbers over the top 100. . .well, you don’t need me to do the math.</p>

<p>Bobby Reynolds
There’s nothing wrong with importing players from foreign soil. Reynolds, who played at Vandy from 2000 to 2003 and had only one foreign teammate, thinks it helps college tennis overall to have Americans competing against foreigners.</p>

<p>But if there are 70 percent foreign players in men’s NCAA tennis now, how much longer will it be before there are virtually no U.S. players to appreciate what these foreigners can do.</p>

<p>The issue of “just how many foreigners is enough” is not only philosophical, but economic. Vanderbilt and Miami are private schools. But tennis powerhouses like Virginia, Florida, Georgia and Texas are government supported schools and, while there’s nothing philosophically wrong with giving away U.S. tax dollars to, say, a Swede who wants to become a great heart surgeon, there is something a bit onerous about giving all these foreigners so much tax money merely because they’re good tennis players.</p>

<p>Of course nothing is likely to change on the issue of foreign balance in college tennis, and especially not in these depressed economic times. Jobs are scarce and no head tennis coach is going to put his employment at risk by refusing to give his limited number of scholarships to U.S. high schoolers who are inferior in ability to foreigners.
Maybe the right thing to do is to put a cap on foreign players — 50 percent seems the right figure. But the most influential people in college tennis have already gone around and around on this subject and it’s going nowhere. Ultimately, they throw out some vague argument about the constitutionality of limiting scholarships to Americans.
Reynolds’ view is that there would be significantly more Americans on college teams if they wouldn’t be in such a hurry to turn pro at 18.</p>

<p>“You see a lot of U.S. guys on tour because they feel they’re going to fall behind if they don’t turn pro,” said Reynolds after he had easily defeated Blocker 6-1, 6-1 at the BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla.
“So many guys who have gone to school have matured before turning pro, learned what it takes to be a pro. It’s the traveling and being on your own. Hitting the ball is the least of your worries on tour. Plus, you get a chance to play on a team, which is a great experience, if you go to college.
“If you’re dominating in college, you can always turn pro.”</p>

<p>Jesse Levine dominated in one year at the University of Florida and he’s now struggling to break top 100 on the ATP Tour. John Isner stayed four years at Georgia and he’s headed for stardom. But of course Isner is 6-foot-9 with a huge serve and Levine a little guy who has to work harder than most just to tread water. So maybe one formula doesn’t fit all.</p>

<p>Still, Reynolds doesn’t want to see any limits on foreigners playing college ball. “You should have the best competition you can have,” he said.</p>

<p>As for Reynolds’ own career, he got a full education at Vandy and, though he’s done merely OK in tennis, he hasn’t sniffed the heights. Yet after coming back from a long down period in 2009 because of a very serious wrist injury, he’s a happy puppy — even at No. 414. Certainly, that faded ranking will get better quickly as he works his way back into things.</p>

<p>He was training at home in Atlanta shortly before the 2009 French Open when the left wrist gave out (he’s a righty with a two-handed backhand). He tried playing with a brace that didn’t allow his wrist to supine. He tried a one-handed backhand at Wimbledon. Neither was a success. Finally, he was fitted for a long, removable brace that covered his entire forearm and a bit of area above the elbow — a brace that left his arm at a 45-degree angle at the elbow.
“Being married, I was definitely sleeping alone for awhile,” he joked. “Three months, and then a month of rehab when it came off. But then, no pain.
Slowly, his game is coming around. He qualified at Indian Wells and was up a set and a break on Mario Ancic before losing in three. And when this journey is over, like a lot of foreigners educated in the U.S., he’ll have a college degree to fall back on.
Charles Bricker can be reached at <a href="mailto:nflwriterr@aol.com">nflwriterr@aol.com</a></p>

[musicprnt]

<p>I think people are comparing two very different things…there is the athletic scholarship to top programs in things like football and basketball, that represent the top tier of athletes whose eyes are often on making it in the pros, rather the getting a university degree on a full athletic scholarship…then there seems to be varying levels of college sports, where being good at a sport may help you get in (aka an ivy, people like Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Buffalo Bills (harvard) and some other ivy athletes), or ‘lesser’ sports like track or lacrosse or whatnot (when i say lesser, I am not saying I think they are worthless or whatever, what I mean is you don’t see 10 million dollar tv contracts for covering someone’s lacross team, you do for basketball and football). And to get recruited at the top level, to get that football scholarship to a BCS school, has turned into big business.</p>

<p>More importantly, kids these days serious about athletics are doing those kind of things, from an early age. In baseball, once you are out of local little league, you are in the land of travel baseball teams (AAU and otherwise), and parents spend a fortune on travelling, equipment, and baseball camps and the like, and from I hear, much the same with basketball and football to a certain extent (there was an article in the paper recently about the relative lack of numbers of African Americans playing baseball, and one of the factors cited was the cost of preparing top level baseball players and how many African Americans simply can’t afford that; football, for whatever reason, seems not to have as high a barrier…). One of the misnomers about sports is about how ‘natural’ athletes make it and so forth, and that is hogwash, in big time sports it takes a lot of dedication. At my son’s old private school they had a top notch tennis program, and those kids spent their lives with lessons and practicing and tournaments, etc…same with gymnastics and other sports. </p>

<p>I hear the colleges are increasingly worried about these attempts to package athletes to get them recruited, among other things, they are finding that a lot of the ‘slickly packaged kids’ often turn out to be more hype then reality (Sports Illustrated has several articles on this in the recent past). </p>

<p>From where I am looking, parents unless the kid is really good would be better saving the money towards tuition and if the child does sports, hope that, for example, as with an ivy league or similar class of school, that sports helps them get admitted and that they get a nice aid package to supplement their savings, or maybe even find a program that would give a partial athletic scholarship, rather then betting the farm on getting a full ride at Auburn or wherever. Given the competition into those programs that offer full rides, it seems to me statistically to be a losing proposition. Likewise, unless the kid is really passionate about the sport, trying to get a full scholarship might not work out great, especially given how much effort big time college sports take.</p>

<p>There is something akin to this in music education. These days, to study music seriously music students are doing what young athletes often do, they dedicate themselves early to serious work on their instrument or whatever, all kinds of private lessons, summer music festivals and the like, and I am talking serious money. Some of these kids are passionate about music, but a number of them have parents who push them into this track, believing that it will give them a big boost towards getting into HYP or whatever (aka someone like the infamous “Tiger Mom”), the kids have private lessons from an early age, go to expensive music festivals, pre college programs like Juilliard, etc, spending a lot of time and money to do so…and to be honest, I kind of question whether it really helps them, because the kids I am talking about also tend to be the academic superstars, taking heavy class loads of high level courses, incredible SAT’s, etc, and might have gotten in had they not done music…(big difference between music and sports? If a kid is good at music, they get into a music program that costs 50k a year, don’t offer great aid, and come out to a job world that is probably less promising then being a major in Ancient Sanskrit poetry, whereas at least a student athlete has a shot at a pretty good payday <em>smile</em>).</p>

[SamuraiLandshark]

<p>We are playing the waiting game right now with D. She is a recruited athlete and juggling overnight visits and gauging true interest from coaches, and trying to make sense of what’s best for her. In her sports, she did them because she loved them and wanted to pursue them, not because she had dollar signs in her eyes hoping for an athletic scholarship!</p>

<p>Honestly, we have spent a lot of money, even when it was a struggle for us, financially…but know that the payoff will be that she lands in a fine university where she can get an amazing education and ideally, play the game she loves. I don’t think she ever thought if I do these activities I will get a full ride to play the game. Maybe some kids do that, more than likely, it may just be the crazy parents who are putting so much faith in this dream! Very few kids even get a chance to play a varsity sport in college, much less getting compensated via tuition and room and board to pay the way. </p>

<p>It is rare to get a full scholarship in D’s sport. I am hoping that she gets enough money from academics/grants/loans to make it work, knowing that the athletic scholarship is an elusive thing. It’s probably far more likely for her to get academic money than athletic money. Plus, generally academic merit scholarships tend to be offered for four years, whereas athletic scholarships are given on a year to year basis. </p>

<p>When we started down this road years ago, I don’t think we thought she would be right here, waiting to find out if her top school - one that matches her academics and athletic abilities would be recruiting her and offering her a spot on the team. It’s unlikely we will even know the true COA until later in the process, because of the way financial aid works at this university.</p>

[redeye41]

<p>Syracuse seems to really like getting athletes for women’s volleyball and softball from Canada. It really puts a damper on local kids and those all across the country that want to play there.</p>

[worldspirit]

<p>I’ve supported aspiring college athletes in finding a place to play their sport and every year I make a lot of effort to dissuade kids and their parents from shooting for scholarships at DI schools. Instead, I strongly urge them to consider one of the many great DIII schools with strong academic programs. These programs can rival some DI / DII programs in sports AND keep an excellent focus on education. </p>

<p>In addition, if you have financial need, the financial aid at many DIII schools is often better than you might find in a DI sports scholarship. Many DIII schools are quite competitive to gain entrance to so one by-product of this is less on-field competition from those with a ‘I love my sport and don’t really like school’ mentality (which is easier to find at schools with a lower bar for entrance).</p>

[beawinner]

<p>I have a problem with preferring athletes simply because they’re American. I’ve seen several American athletes who simply don’t and can’t cut it athletically. Some are just plain lazy and not hardworking at all. Should they be awarded scholarships just because they’re American? My feeling is no.</p>

[mhmm]

<p>I have a problem with preferring students simply because all they’ve done in life were homeschooled for a particular sport (and I guess this does particularly apply to tennis), or were passed in subjects because they play a particular sport(football anyone) or have amazing erg scores, but have never sat in a boat (hockey players that didnt get recruited). This is what gives the scholar/athletes the bad rep they have, and why we have those articles at Yale that fog posted a few weeks back. The combination of a student with great grades that also is passionate about a sport is being lost, because it becomes almost impossible for those kids to compete with kids that are being driven in a particular sport with a goal of college admission/scholarship money. But thats the way it is now, so one must adapt.
In terms of foreign athletes - where I am I see way too many kids that have come to the States to play tennis in less than stellar colleges, and in some instances, in celebrated colleges, and they havent made it huge on a tennis circuit. They are now in their late 20’s early 30’s with a degree from a college that is meaningless in their country, but have no chance of staying here permanently due to visa issues. They are hitting balls or teaching summer camps at clubs during the summer and some are also teaching kids during the year. I think programs that bring them in and colleges using them is a huge disservice to these kids.</p>

[fishymom]

<p>I don’t have an issue with private schools funding foreign athletes, but I do think that public schools should have a cap, and a small one at that, on the number of international athletes on their rosters. There are plenty of qualified American athletes to fill their rosters. There are various reasons why some coaches may prefer internationals.</p>

[beawinner]

<p>Fishymom, I’m curious what the reasons are that coaches would prefer someone international rather than American apart from the fact that the foreign athlete was a superior player. Especially in tennis where there is a lot more objective data such as rankings and head to head matches, why would a coach choose a foreigner over an American.</p>

[SamuraiLandshark]

<p>Do international players tend to get athletic scholarships? At many schools, an international student is a full pay student. Perhaps he/she can conserve money in their fund to help other students by taking more internationals?</p>

[beenthere2]

<p>Yes, international recruits tend to get scholarships or generous financial aid, primarily because in most countries higher education is free or very inexpensive. So, for a European to come to the US for college, s/he would expect to receive a very generous scholarship. There are some teams where the majority of athletes is from abroad, and they get full rides.</p>

[momof2010]

<p>Beawinner, a coach once told me he preferred the international players over the americans because in his experience they worked harder, appreciated what they were getting more and did better in school. This was just one coach for one college for one sport, but that is what he said.</p>