I don’t think the walk ons are all affluent, I think they are kids who want to play football at their ‘dream schools’ just like the kids who want to act at NYU or do computer science at CMU. They really aren’t different than all the other kids who borrow money to go to college. If WE (the great and all knowing CC parents’ forum) had advised him, we would have said “Don’t go OOS, don’t borrow money, consider the JUCOs or a state directional college, or a much lower ranked school that offered you a scholarship.” That’s what we advise everyone. Don’t borrow that much money!
They really don’t pay to play any more than every other kid paying tuition does. They are not scholarship students. MOST college athletes aren’t scholarship athletes (or only have a small sliver of a scholarship). We don’t say they are ‘pay to play’, we say they are students paying tuition.
Every walk on isn’t a preferred walk on. Preferred walk ons have had recruiting contact with the coach. They are invited to summer camp. Most are guaranteed a spot on the 105 man roster. There can be other walk ons and those might have other financial aid arrangements. Some of them might not make the 105 man roster.
This student would seem to be without financial assistance from a family, HE could NOT have borrowed 34K. Who borrowed the money? This student could not have taken responsibility for this debt. Something is wrong in the story.
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Figuring out who to blame isn't going to help here.<<<<<<
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I am not sure why you think that? Isn’t this is a vulnerable student with no parents, who should have been able to tap into as many resources available to him, but yet appears to be at an unaffordable OOS school with no scholarships and is not an actual athletic recruit.
@twoinanddone We would have said not to go to a OOS school because he has no ability to pay or take out the loans to pay. Forget all this football talk. Preferred walk-on… Whatever. It didn’t pay the bills. His financial situation would have been known before attending college. He would have been told he was getting X from this loan and Y from that grant. He would have known the completely unaffordable balance. He is now in a very serious financial situation with considerable debt. Stopping, working and paying it off. He can’t continue until that happens.
I was the first one on this thread that said he couldn’t go to another school until it was paid because the NCAA wouldn’t allow it, and that it isn’t a mistake that he got no financial aid. He’s stuck with the bill as he registered for classes at OSU and didn’t have a way to pay for them.
I don’t think this is an unusual situation, except that it seems OSU let him go for the full academic year without paying one cent, and it doesn’t seem that he filed a FAFSA (although maybe he wasn’t eligible). Lots of students are full pay.
Unfortunately, his people grant and minor loans did not come even close to covering the costs for the year.<<<<<<<<<
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Let’s assume this means pell and staffords, he would have had to complete fafsa for that, and he would appear to be an independent student?. That alone would make the uni unlikely to extend credit over the whole year without seeing a means of payment.
OP said he had a people grant (Pell Grant?) and a minor loan (the normal federal loan for Freshmen $5500??) So it could be even worse. Owing the school 34k AND $5500 loan. I don’t understand how he can owe 34k if he had a loan and grant. He is stuck until the debt is paid off.
@Sybylla I don’t understand how the university could extend credit for an independent either or how 34k is owed when COA is 33.4k and he had a loan and a grant. Could you use a Stafford on travel and incidentals? No work study?
<<<<This kid needs money, which means he needs a job, not a way to keep playing football.<<<
I don’t think there’s a way for him to play football and have a job, at least not one that would make a dent in that debt.
He’s in a hole and I don’t see how he gets out. If he stops school (because no one will enroll him), and he works for at least 2 years to pay that off, he will lose his conditioning, etc, to play football.
Unless this student truly has what it takes to make it the NFL, it seems that football door is now closed, and he needs to get that debt paid and finish his education.
Since he was a preferred walk-on, which involves his high school coach and the univ’s program, there seems to be too many adults who should have foreseen this problem.
Also not sure why his guardians didn’t seem to know what was going on. Were all the adults involved with this matter asleep at the wheel?
OP- time for a sit down. If you are geographically far away, arrange a conference call. You, the student, someone senior in the financial aid office (i.e. not a clerk-- someone with authority), the Bursar and the Dean of students.
This is not the first time the university folks have seen this show and it won’t be the last. But you need to hold their feet to the fire to both figure out why they allowed second semester enrollment (more money which the student didn’t have and couldn’t get) and a plan to get the student out of this mess and resume his education.
The Pell-- that he owes and needs to repay. The balance the U is due- they need to help come up with a payment plan which is not going to cripple this young man for the rest of his life. You can explain in a calm and measured way that this is a potential public relations disaster for the university and therefore it is in their best interests to get working (and get creative) on how to fix this.
Agree that it looks like a gap year to work is in order until this gets resolved (no more enrolling and no more debt until there’s a plan in place) and it also looks like football is over. But this young man deserves a chance at getting an education.
You may need to use the phrase “potential public relations disaster” a couple of times to get the senior folks at this meeting. You aren’t threatening anything, but your also letting them know that this is the kind of story that the reporters who cover the for-profit colleges, predatory college lenders, and “why disadvantaged kids can’t make it through college” would love to hear about in excruciating and documented detail.
@thumper1 OP said he had a grant (Pell?) and a minor loan ( Stafford???)
Also OP needs to review the bill since the Cost of attendance (33.4K) was less than the amount owed 34K. This student was probably one of their most vulnerable students, trying to pull himself out of poverty without family support. They completely failed him by allowing that second semester when the first semester was completely unaffordable. I think “potential public relations disaster” with the possibility of speaking with reporters is a good idea. I am shocked and saddened that this student has been failed with regards to college guidance. If you had to speak to reporters, and I would usually never suggest this, but if he gets publicity, I would set up a GoFundMe page.
@thumper1 Someone needs to look under the hood and carefully review that bill. He should have been able to take out $5500 in loans and ad to that a Pell Grant He could have had $8000 or so for college. COA of 34k minus loan/grant and you are at 26k. They need to review that bill. He should have left when he couldn’t pay his first semester bill. OSU should not have allowed enrollment for that second semester. He would have had a “reasonable” 12 to 14K in debt to pay off before continuing somewhere else.
Shame OP has left the room. If the scenario is that the pell and stafford were never applied in the first place (which seems the only way the bill could be as it is) I have a hard time believing that a state school would have continued with the second semester enrollment under such circumstances. There is more to this than presented.
Of course OSU is a not for profit. My point is that there are dozens of easily identifiable journalists around the country who focus on kids getting ripped off by colleges who would LOVE to cover this story.
How can a kid with no resources and an unpaid bill from Fall semester register for more courses and rack up more unpaid bills? That’s a story and it’s no secret of who in the news world loves to cover these stories.