Athletic scholarship or need based financial aid, or both?

varska
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:55:05 +0000

A few more random thoughts…

Bear in mind that an athletic scholarship is a one-year deal. Tales of ‘four year full-rides’ notwithstanding. So you may negotiate as much athletic scholarship money as you can to protect yourself from having your FA award reduced if your income goes up, but there is no guarantee her scholarship will remain constant. (In reality, athletic scholarships are seldom pulled or reduced, but it is possible.)

If the coach from 1st choice school asked you to go through FA office first - you should probably act in good faith and do just that. I would let the coach know your concerns about the award being reduced in the future.

Another little trivial tidbit that could save you thousands - if the coach offers a choice between a flat dollar amount or a percentage of COA, take the percentage - COA increases every year and your ‘set dollar amount’ award will be a smaller and smaller percentage as costs rise.

Lastly, remind you daughter that someday she’ll have to hang up her goggles, and when she does an Ivy degree <cough, harvard,=“” cough=“”> might be a nice thing to have. ;-)</cough,>