@Sue22, it’s not. The NESCAC A,B,C band system is openly based on the Ivy band system for football. The distinction between the conferences is that many of the Ivy schools were nationally competitive in the major sports when the league formed, and voluntarily stepped back. None of the NESCAC schools competed at that level.
@OhioMom2 it might be. Ask a kid who is offered a guaranteed admit at Duke over a coach’s support at Penn and it may seem a bit more significant. Certainly the Ivy schools perceived a difference that hurt their recruiting. It is why they developed the likely letter system in the first place.
@lookingforward, who ever said coaches “have next to no say” in admissions at Ivy schools?
The coaches in the scandel were doing it for their own benefit, not to benefit the team or win a championship. Those coaches weren’t looking for the best players, just the richest. They were taking money from students/families to get them into the school, not giving away suitcases full of money or even a scholarship to entise the students to go to Yale or Dartmouth.
Whatever the case is I no longer believe what Harvard is saying, too many little lies have come out in the lawsuit. There is enough discretion in giving out FA that it could easily be the case that a recruited athlete would get a more generous package.
…@CU123 “There is enough discretion in giving out FA that it could easily be the case that a recruited athlete would get a more generous package.”
I can only speak of my situation. Had a couple kids recruited in different & multiple sports in which one was considered a top D1 Recruit and was also very high academically.
OVs to Ivies and other D1s, ended up at a top Ivy, recvd. a likely letter, etc. I feel we did not get Any extra financial aid due to sports. I did speak directly to the financial aid department a few times about how they were calculating the need, etc. and they did listen, discuss and when applicable adjust a bit but sports was never part of the discussion and I am not sure the FA officer even knew or cared about being a recruited athlete.
Also, what we were told during recruiting by coaches at Ivy and D1 non-Ivy was pretty much in line with NCAA & School policies and not what you would hear as typical parent speak.
Sports can certainly help open doors and get you in but scholarships are greatly exaggerated by parent speak and short of a true legit athletic scholarship, I am always very skeptical of stories of Ivy’s or most any D3 giving athletic money disguised as merit or FA because the coach/school wanted my kid.
@recruitparent Doubt that it would be commonplace, but as you say they did adjust the FA, in extraordinary circumstances I believe they could and do adjust it a lot. There simply too much leeway for some recruited athletes to not be able to adjust FA significantly. Maybe not in your case but then they got your kid to matriculate so they met the “required” FA.
so when you get a chance, google “Harvard 2020 football commits” and "Princeton 2020 football commits. " there’s a web site that lists all of the “hard” commits. Do you think it’s real? I’m curious of it all - as our neighbor is one of them (although not listed). Seriously; would love any of your thoughts on how this happens.
I don’t know what you mean by ‘hard’ commits. Does it mean they can’t go to another school? No, they can. Even an Alabama or USC recruit can change his mind right up until he signs that NLI. If you are a top recruit, you can pretty much run the show.
Does it mean he is admitted to Yale or Harvard, that it is all a sure thing? No, it doesn’t. They still have to be admitted. At this point they haven’t even been issued a Likely Letter.
Does it mean they are ‘committed to the process’, that the coach has offered support through admissions? Yes, they are filling out the applications and writing the essays and taking SATs one more time if necessary. They are getting pre-reads and hoping for a lot of happy emails from the coaches.
@CU123…the adjustment in FA was after acceptance to the school. It was based on the FA office not understanding the family income (small company-essentially self employed, struggling a bit at that time). It took quite a bit of work, discussion and supporting information as they left no stone un-turned but would listen to understand. It was all based on hard #s, no athletics discussion and I am pretty certain that would have not done a thing.
Hard commit is a term used primarily by 247 sports and it is generally understood to mean that the recruit is committed to a particular school and not entertaining other offers.
Well, I’d think these juniors in high school (rising seniors) may be close to done and may not be entertaining additional offers, but as of right now, none are a sure thing as far as the schools are concerned.
“What I am saying is that the Ivys publicly take the most important decisions out of the hands of coaches largely to avoid situations like that.” And that’s why I pointed out they absolutely can defer to coaches.
“they did adjust the FA, in extraordinary circumstances I believe they could and do adjust it a lot. There simply too much leeway for some recruited athletes to not be able to adjust FA significantly.”
But they can adjust FA for any kid, even one with no sports talent, not even in his dreams. It depends on particulars, Professional Judgment, and there are rules to follow, as I noted above.
@lookingforward, there certainly are rules to follow. I am unfamiliar with the specific Ivy rule, but since D3 is fairly similar, a look-see may be instructive: “Adjustments to the composition of the financial aid package for a prospective student-athlete may be made after the initial packaging for the student has been completed, provided such adjustments fit within the packaging guidelines for all of the institution’s prospective students and there is no athletics department involvement in the process.” 15.4.7. So, yes, a FA package may get a bump, but not based on consideration of athletic prowess.
To me, saying that your kid got a disguised athletic scholarship is a bit like saying you spent $100 on a new TV set that the kid down the road stole from the neighbors. I wouldn’t think it is something to brag about. And, if a school is in fact cheating, the more people that know, the more likely that the NCAA will figure it out and vacate those wins that the school had while doing so (and record and championships). Plus can you imagine being the coach that has to tell all of the new recruits that he got caught by the NCAA for giving out disguised athletic scholarships?
@twoinanddone, yeah, I agree with you. Each cycle commitments mean less and less. And that is leaving all the admissions issues of to the side. The system is broken, no doubt
My child / athlete was top recruit in her sport and recruited with all Ivy’s. Nobody has offered any $. She ended up at top private D1 university who did.
Actually, the rule is that they need to treat all families in similar circumstances (eg, job loss, random income, disabled parent, etc,) in the same manner, uniform to all in whatever position it is. They cannot just make arbitrary changes or judgments.
Private schools use CSS and they can base their priorities for FA how they like. For instance, some use home equity in the formula and some do not, and those that do use various multipliers for capping home equity, or not capping.
Schools also can have a lot of flexibility with merit aid - and merit aid is given on a holistic basis in many cases. SOME schools publish charts for merit (with GPA/test score hurdles) but many do not, especially private schools.