It’s not anywhere specific. My kids aren’t seniors yet. But because of our specific situation, I’m not going to post the school that made me ask the question. I picked Georgetown after googling “which schools have EA and no ED?” or something like that.
Probably not the best hypothetical example since Georgetown’s EA has restrictions
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As I suggested earlier…you need to ask the colleges when the earliest is you can submit the NCP waiver form. It won’t be before your kid’s senior year in high school most likely. But do ask, especially if the school is donning a preread sooner.
Your circumstances likely warrant the NCP waiver be approved…but the financial aid departments do need to make that decision. SO…reach out to them.
But not restrictions that would prevent someone from applying to their state school to compare offers. You are only prevented from making a binding application elsewhere, which didn’t happen in my hypothetical.
There isn’t an ethical issue if you commit based on a FA pre-read that turns out to be inaccurate as in scenario 1. However, I can’t really see that happening. I don’t have experience with NCP waivers but I would think the FA office won’t generate a FA pre-read until making a decision on that. I’d expect clarity before committing.
As far as committing based on a FA pre-read that is accurate, then later deciding to go someplace else because it ends up being a better financial offer, I’d say that isn’t a great way to approach things. To me, the coach and school are acting in good faith and if you commit you’re agreeing to attend based on the terms they present. If you’re not sure then maybe it’s not the right fit.
Obviously make sure to follow the explicit rules, as I’m sure you’re planning to do already. But whether or not some version of the latter scenario is acceptable is probably a judgment call. I’ve seen kids make changes for good reasons that others might question.
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Ski is right. Not the best example bc Georgetown has all sort of things unique to them (no common app, require all test scores, coach support in RD, no rejections in EA…), which likely you didn’t realize. Its not a good “generic school.”
Can you give an example of a unique thing that would impact this particular question?
I understand that. But other users may not.
Sorry, I edited. Maybe it doesn’t specifically matter, other than what I mentioned already in terms of the timing of coach support, but for those of us who are familiar, its just not a school that is representative of most schools on how they do things. Its not a name we would pick for a “put any school here” conversation.
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To clarify, the coach will still want to have his recruit class sorted out well before fall of senior year, but strictly speaking, they could still fill in the gap.
Just to be clear, not all schools do financial aid pre-reads for recruited athletes. Obviously ask, and have all your ducks in a row for the NCP ready to go…many schools will require attestation from a third party about the situation.
I agree with those who said to be up front with the coach…A) what the budget is, B) that an NCP waiver will be necessary to reach said budget and C) that you are going to apply elsewhere that will be highly likely to be in budget (not as an athlete.)
Note that for some schools and/or some coaches, these conditions could be enough to preclude them from recruiting your kid.
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That seems so unfair, that at schools that claim to be need blind and meet full need, and understand that students need to be able to compare financial offers, none of that applies to athletes.
Meet full need schools will meet full need for athletes…but like for any student, each school determines what a family’s need is. NCP waivers can be difficult to get, as I’m sure you are aware.
All you can do is control what you can control. Coaches want to complete their recruiting classes, and don’t generally want to wait until winter/spring the app cycle to do so. The stronger the athletic recruit, the more likely a given coach might wait. But, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that a coach should be willing to wait and potentially lose out on other recruits, should things not work out with your kid.
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Admissions IS need blind, the coach is not. It is reasonable that the coach might not (cannot, really) support an athlete who might ultimately walk because they got more money elsewhere.
On the flip side, there are lots of D3 schools (no athletic scholarships) where coaches have a thumb on the scale of merit disbursement.
Athletic commitment is a privilege, not a right. Your son can always discuss “do I have a spot if I get in on my own?” If he wants the coach to carry him through admissions, its not unreasonable for him to have to offer assurance in return.
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It sounds like you’re pretty early in the process?
I think it’s likely you’ll get more clarity as you get further along.
Some of this depends on the sport and types of schools. But honestly there really aren’t that many schools with really outstanding need-based aid. (I don’t think GT is one of them but I could be wrong).
You’ll likely find that the intersecting area of the Venn diagram (athletic fit, FA, etc) leaves a pretty manageable list.
I certainly wouldn’t exclude ED schools early on.
You can have conversations with the FA folks if it gets that far and I suspect you’ll get clarity from that.
Then you can see what the options are and weigh those against other potential options.
Yes, in the end you might need to make a decision based on imperfect info about the road not taken. That’s what many athletic recruits do.
But yes you could also be in the position where, say, Columbia comes back with an affordable FA pre-read and answers all your questions about the NCP waiver. At that point, having gone through the process it’ll likely be an easy decision one way or the other for you.
This is against D3 rules and the NCAA comes down hard on schools they find doing this. One school a few years ago got in trouble for giving athletes Work Study at a more favorable rate than non-athletes.
I do think coaches make sure their athletes get all the merit money they are entitled to, but only that which they are entitled to as non-athletes would get it. For example, a coach may direct an athlete to apply for a history department scholarship. Some schools give a scholarship for filing FAFSA, and a coach may remind the student to file FAFSA.
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Georgetown meets full need for all accepted students. They will need a NCP Profile waiver as the school requires the NCP profile.
I believe it but anecdotally, it seems to happen. Like you said, could just be a matter of having guidance and an advocate.
Just a reminder that “need” is defined differently by each school.
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Yes. But I was responding to @politeperson who didn’t know if they were a school that met need.
The key here is for @Sportsball to be very transparent with the financial aid department about the NCP waiver question…and perhaps also with the coaches.
I’m not sure how early one can apply for a NCP waiver, but that needs to be asked.
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