D3 Athletic for Merit Scholarship?

CMA22
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 20:55:08 +0000

Just sharing our experience, for what it is worth:

My child was NMF also and also recruited at D3. She was not recruited at the tippy top schools you reference, but still somewhat competitive LACs.

In her case, the coaches told her she would be “eligible” for the highest merit award, which she did in fact receive. But because of the NMF scholarships available elsewhere, she negotiated to apply RD to her top-choice LAC. That can be an awkward or risky request, so we may have not gone that route if she were really excited and all in on the school.

However, she was really torn about going to an LAC at all — and in the end, she didn’t.

I can say that, even with highest merit, the cost was still generally $60k more over 4 years than the packages she received at large public universities (as a student who did not qualify for need-based aid).