Key Points About Outside Scholarships

The end of the school year will be arriving before we know it, bringing with it graduations and awards ceremonies where many scholarships will be awarded to high school seniors to help pay for their college education. 

For those students who will be playing a sport at an NCAA Division I or II university, it will be important to remember some key points if they receive one of these scholarships from their high school, local civic club, parent’s employer, or other organization.  Local organizations providing these scholarships should also keep these key points in mind.

The NCAA considers any financial aid for an athlete that comes from a source other than their family, or the college or university they are attending, to be “aid from outside sources.”  This “aid from outside sources” is classified into three categories.  Those three categories are:

• No relationship to athletics ability;
• Athletics participation not major criterion; and
• Athletics participation as a major criterion. 

Here are some key points about outside aid classified into these three categories:

No relationship to athletics ability:  A scholarship program that requests or encourages an applicant to include their athletic participation or achievements as part of the application process cannot be classified in this category.  The organization that awards the scholarship may be asked to confirm that it did not consider athletics participation or achievements in selecting the athlete who receives the award and must not restrict the athlete’s choice of college institution. 

Athletics Participation not Major Criterion.  Scholarships fit in this category if athletics participation or achievements are one of the criteria considered in awarding the scholarship, but are not the major criteria for awarding the scholarship.  Organizations awarding scholarships in this category are strongly encouraged to provide written notification of the award to the financial aid office of the college that the athlete will be attending.

Athletics Participation as a Major Criterion.  Scholarships are classified in this category if the athlete’s athletics participation and achievements are the major criteria for awarding the scholarship.  In fact, if applicants or nominees are required to be an athlete in order to be considered for a scholarship, then that scholarship will automatically be considered to be in this category.  Furthermore, if the recipient of a scholarship from this category was recruited by the college they will be attending, the recipient will be considered a “counter” for financial aid purposes and the value of the scholarship will be counted toward team financial aid limits as if it were an athletic scholarship awarded by the college.  Scholarships in this category should be sent to the financial aid office of the college the recipient will be attending so that the aid will be properly tracked for NCAA limits.

Athletes attending an NCAA Division I or II university will likely be asked to indicate on a form for their athletic department whether they are the recipient of an outside award.  In addition, an awarding organization may be asked to provide a copy of their application or nomination form and a list of criteria for the scholarship.

If you have questions about outside awards, or other questions about athletic scholarships, contact Rick Allen at 918-994-7271 or at rick@informedathlete.com.  You can also subscribe to the Informed Athlete monthly newsletter at www.informedathlete.com, or join the Informed Athlete Facebook fan page.

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National Letter of Intent & Athletic Scholarships

November is an exciting time for those high school seniors (or junior college athletes) who have been recruited by an NCAA Division I or II athletic program and have been offered an athletic scholarship to continue participating in their sport in college.

These athletes will have an opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent with an NCAA Division I or II institution during the early signing period that begins on Wednesday, November 11.  The signing period continues through Wednesday, November 18 and is available for athletes in most sports.

High school football seniors will not sign a National Letter of Intent until February 3, 2010.  Other sports that do not sign until February 3 are cross country, track and field, soccer, field hockey and water polo.

Do you have questions about the National Letter of Intent?

Questions about scholarship offers that accompany the National Letter of Intent?

Join Informed Athlete for our next teleseminar when we discuss the rules and processes regarding the National Letter of Intent and scholarship agreements.

This topic will be especially helpful to any high school athletes and parents who are planning to sign a National Letter of Intent during the November signing period, or during a future signing period.

Date:  Wednesday, October 28th
Time:  7 PM CST

Rick Allen, Founder of Informed Athlete will discuss:

• The NCAA rules regarding the National Letter of Intent

• Institutional athletic scholarship agreements.

• Recruiting rules during this signing period.

• “Double signing.”

• Publicity about letter of intent signings

To register for this FREE teleseminar, go to National Letter of Intent.

If you would like to submit a question before the teleseminar begins, you can send it to rick@informedathlete.com.

This teleseminar is one of our regular series in which we discuss topics of interest to athletes, parents, and coaches, and interview coaches, scouts and other from the world of baseball.  It is provided as a complimentary service of www.informedathlete.com, but registration is required.

Athletic Scholarships and Financial Aid Issues

While some people believe that college athletes who receive athletic scholarships to participate in their sport receive “full-ride” scholarships, the truth is that no athletic scholarship covers ALL of the costs of attending college, and that athletes in the majority of sports programs receive “partial” athletic scholarships.  A “full” athletic scholarship covers the following costs of college:  tuition, certain course-related fees, room and board, and the value or provision of books. An athletic scholarship may not cover all student fees, and also may not cover things like parking fines, a single room in the dorm, library fines or late fees, etc.

In NCAA Division I, the following sports are “head-count” sports:  men’s and women’s basketball, football, women’s gymnastics, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball. All other Division I sports, as well as all Division II sports, are “equivalency” sports.  In equivalency sports, coaches can divide their scholarships up as they desire, as they long as they do not exceed the total allowable scholarship value available in their sport.  A few examples in Division I are baseball with 11.7, softball with 12, and wrestling with 9.9 scholarships.  One athlete on the team may be provided with the cost of tuition, a second athlete on the team may be provided with room and board, and a third athlete on the team may only be provided the value or use of books.

Any student-athlete who receives any amount of athletic financial aid is considered a “counter” per NCAA rules.  Once a student-athlete is considered a “counter” there are situations in which other types of financial aid may be required to be “counted” as athletic financial aid.

Any scholarships that a student-athlete will be receiving from groups such as a Rotary or Kiwanis club, a church youth group, or a high school booster club should be sent to the financial aid office of the college the student-athlete is attending so that the scholarship can be processed properly.  In addition, NCAA rules may require that the donor organization of the scholarship be required to complete a questionnaire to determine whether athletic participation was part of the criteria for the awarding of the scholarship.

In addition, if a student-athlete also receives an academic scholarship from their college or university due to their high school GPA or their ACT or SAT test score, the fact that they are already an NCAA “counter” may affect the value or receipt of their academic scholarship.  Once a student-athlete is a “counter” all other financial aid received from their institution is required to “count” as if it is an athletic scholarship, unless the student-athlete qualifies for an exemption based on the level of their GPA, their class rank, or their ACT or SAT test score.  If you have questions regarding athletic or academic scholarships for a student-athlete, you can contact Informed Athletic at 918-994-7271 or email rick@informedathlete.com.