The reason doesn’t really matter. If this is where the parents are at in terms of weighing the finances/ROI/etc, please communicate that with your D ASAP.
IME, it would be difficult for your D after she has secured a recruiting slot (assuming that happens) to then find out she can’t accept it and move forward with ED. It would be wasting her time as well as the various coaches who engage with her (again if you know you don’t want her to pursue that now, or decide that shortly).
ED requires not only your student’s commitment, but also requires the parent and High School counselor to sign the application. While not legally binding, breaking n ED contract for anything other than financial hardship i.e., you simply not being able to afford it versus you got a better deal elsewhere, can have pretty significant consequences.
In some cases the school where you breached your ED agreement can contact the new school and you can possibly lose admissions to both. Your student and in some cases even the school can be black listed by an institution for lack of integrity.
Unless 100% certain that is the school you want to attend AND you can afford full ticket, it is better not to do ED.
You can break an ED agreement for financial reasons if the school has not lived up to its financial projections (for example, if the Net Price Calculator showed a net cost that you could afford, but the actual cost ended up being higher.) But if you knew the expected cost of a school going in, breaking an ED agreement because a better deal came along does not satisfy the terms of the agreement. When there’s also an agreement with a coach in the mix, it’s even worse.
Got you, we had never read an ED agreement before so never knew the contents.
So now, it goes back to original situation, either ED to secure the spot, or risk the chance to RD for possible merit scholarship but may not play sports in college at all. (Don’t think coach would allow us to negotiate an RD)
Sounds like you have some tough decisions to make. As others have said, best to figure it out now so you know how proceed.
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).
For what she wants, academically and athletically, MIT Sloan seems like the potentially ideal destination (at least, assuming the specific team and coach are a good fit); and they can’t require ED because they don’t have it. She certainly has the stats, and coach support would give her a boost, although coaches don’t have as much influence there as at other schools. If the environment appeals to her, and she has coach support, and you’d consider it worth paying for, I think I’d be tempted, to “shoot the moon” and apply EA there. It’s a risk, of course. But at least if the best case scenario occurred and you ended up with the “full pay at MIT + athletics vs. full ride at UT Austin” decision, you wouldn’t have any binding agreements as constraints. If she really wants a top-tier business-oriented undergrad education, I can’t see going hundreds of thousands out of pocket for a very pure-liberal-arts oriented school, even if it’s prestigious, when you have such strong in-state programs (and likely their prestigious honors programs, like UT-Austin CSB) at such a low cost. Is there a club-team option for her at UT?
A friend of my son was in a similar position. Had very high academics, good athletics, and needed money. They spoke with a lot of coaches about their situation, and found a number of places where there would be a spot on the team for them if they could get themselves in through RD. In the end, they found their home at the right price. It took some legwork, communication, and confidence. They also had to put some work into feeling good about their strategy when teammates were all committing early to their choices. BUT–it worked out in the end. It can be done.
MIT coaches haven’t responded to us for couple months. Their 2024 EA result is coming up next week. I assume they are waiting to see how many players they tagged this year can get in before they can decide how many slots they may have for 2025. I am having figures crossed .
IMO based on what you have posted, I think your best route is to ask the coaches for support for the RD rounds, telling them you can’t attend unless she gets a merit award but you know those are hard to come by and you can’t risk ED. If they say no I still think you are in a better position than if you ED and then turn it down.
She’ll have a lot of good academic options with NMF or the Texas options, but may have to adjust the athletic options. It really sounds like you/she will be unhappy having to pay full costs, especially knowing there were other options. Really, getting a scholarship feels pretty good, maybe as good as getting into a Top 20 school. All schools have their benefits and problems. Look at MIT, UPenn, Harvard right now - not all that rosy. At other times things at those schools are great.
I think when looking that merit aid at these schools, it is always important to look at what they historically give. If you examine the CDS for each school, you can see how many awards they gave to students who didn’t qualify for financial aid.
School, # of awards, number of students that don’t qualify for FA, percentage getting aid, avg award amount.
Emory; 56; 668; 8.3%; $25,536
JHU; 61;635; 9.6%; $29,844
NYU; 143; 4,238; 3.3%; $40,607
UChicago; 327; 1,293; 25.3%; $14,102
With UChicago at $95k this year (including the health insurance) - that would be at least $380k for 4 years. Average merit aid looks like $56k over 4 years. So, even with a merit award - UChicago would still be $324k over 4 years (minimum as that doesn’t take into account yearly COA increases).
Emory - $83k this year (not including health insurance, probably closer to $87k with it). Average merit award $26k. So over 4 years - looking at $244k total cost (not including COA yearly increase).
JHU - $89k a year (including health insurance). Average award $30k. So 4 year cost around $236k (again, not including COA yearly increase).
NYU - $92k (Stern) a year (not including health insurance). Average award - $41k. $ year cost $202k (not including COA yearly increases).
OP, knowing your daughter has a great option with UT Austin or A&M…are any of these other schools worth the differential even if she was awarded a merit scholarship in the average range?
I don’t know the answer to that, but thought it might help to think about the numbers more concretely.
P.S. Meant to reply to thread in general, sorry!
My advice to the OP: I don’t you need to say this early. You don’t have to decide until later after the academic pre-read process and financial aid pre-read process, and there is a talk of actual offers.
I would enquire along the way about their recruiting process and past recruits who went the RD route and get a sense whether that is a possibility at all. If it seems like a complete no-go, then you can cut things short.
I think an important piece here is being realistic about the impact of the athlete. The better the athlete, the more likely the coach is to take them RD, though sometimes that means no support, which is a tricky proposition at these schools. Still, it’s a fine path if everyone understands the trade off.
I just wanted to comment regarding the earlier scenario of walking away from ED. I agree that it’s unethical to apply ED while considering a scenario where the applicant will walk away (not the same thing as someone EDing in good faith and not receiving the expected FA), but I think it’s even more egregious for an athlete to do so because that not only leaves a hole on the roster, but it also prevents another athlete from receiving a supported slot.
Yes, an important component of the recruiting process is to figure out the relative “market value” of the athlete. Timed individual sports are easier to do this for, but even those have vagaries among programs of similar overall strength depending on specific event needs.
The timing of “offers” for D3 compared to D1 and associated choices and pressure brings a bit of hand wringing. My daughter had interest in both levels, but the D1 went quiet with a preferred WO and possible spring offer only. She pretty much landed on a competitive academic D3.
Coaches /admissions supportive of RD and she let them know they are #1. Now a couple D1 are poking around with a shot at a scholarship. It’s awkward…RD is not until Nov but coaches want to know of course…now…what you are doing. My daughter feels guilty for waffling but at the same time real money could be on the table. It’s a tricky dance because the D3 will keep recruiting and you could lose support or spot.
Do the D1 schools have the major she is interested in? Are they academically sound schools that will help her achieve her academic goals?
As a former recruiting coordinator for a team I always asked the players - do you want to start and make an immediate impact on a team or do you want to sit the bench and potentially never see the field? This, of course, is assuming your dd is looking at a team sport.
I’d always be cautious if a D1 went quiet and now all of a sudden there’s interest again. To me that means that she isn’t a top recruit for them.
Does the D3 offer any merit money? If so, it might be a whole lot more than what she would get athletically at the D1 level, and would be good for all four years as long as she keeps her grades up.
This year may be different. A lot of D1 schools are reorganizing their athletic award because of the NCAA settlement and the change in the number of scholarships that will be allowed in the 2025-26 school year, the new booster clubs that are giving money to athletes, etc. Some schools like Utah have pledged to give all the money they get from the settlement to the athletes which could mean anything, but I hope it means more scholarships. If it does mean more scholarships, the coaches may have just gotten word they can offer more scholarships or more money in the scholarships they have now (since most sports aren’t fully funded).
The ‘ask yourself how you will fit in’ question is very important. In sports like soccer and lax, they don’t sub much so you might be on the bench. There might be a lot more travel that you realize, and sometimes during finals. YOu might find a hidden gem and you might be a hidden star. You might play behind a star on your hs team but if you were on any other team, you’d be the star and that may come out in college.
Good luck. It takes some ESP and faith and luck, but I think you’ll find it works out and she’ll be in a good place in the end.
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.