please help me interpret "NCAA 5th year scholarship"

[tennismom42]

So I am really confused. Apparently in NCAA there's a term, "5th year." There's a scholarship, supposedly for student athletes who were unable to get their degree done during 4 years.

My kid is not getting done in 4 years.

We have the paperwork filled out for the scholarship, but someone at the university refuses to sign because she interprets it as a "6th year scholarship." (SIXTH year)

How in the heck do you ever reach a 6th year, if you can't afford to attend the first day of the 5th year?

Second, I think if you can't get it done in 5 years, why is someone giving away money for a 6th time?

The packet has to be mailed & date stamped May 24. Can someone help me understand how a recruited athlete gets thrown under the bus like this?
How can we get the 5th year paid? Actually 4 1/2 years would be sufficient.

 

[asusundevils1971]

So I am really confused. Apparently in NCAA there's a term, "5th year." There's a scholarship, supposedly for student athletes who were unable to get their degree done during 4 years.

My kid is not getting done in 4 years.

We have the paperwork filled out for the scholarship, but someone at the university refuses to sign because she interprets it as a "6th year scholarship." (SIXTH year)

How in the heck do you ever reach a 6th year, if you can't afford to attend the first day of the 5th year?

Second, I think if you can't get it done in 5 years, why is someone giving away money for a 6th time?

The packet has to be mailed & date stamped May 24. Can someone help me understand how a recruited athlete gets thrown under the bus like this?
How can we get the 5th year paid? Actually 4 1/2 years would be sufficient.

The college/university red shirts you. So you can still get your five years of scholarship money. Usually the college/university will give you the sixth year scholarship on your grades and not the athletic ability. You will not be able to play sports in the sixth year unless you apply to the NCAA for special circumstances.

 

[Art Rust Jr]

Ummmmm, sounds like you should be speaking to someone at the university, who, like yourself, should be more familiar with the specifics of this situation.

Also, if your kid has ever attended another school, even for a semester, and didn't play tennis or whatever sport, that could be why they're talking about a 6th year.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Talk to David Hopkins of Wake Forest. He was around like 6 years.

 

[tennismom42]

My kid has just finished his 8th semester. He's competing this week in Illinois. He has been at 1 University all 4 years. He did not red shirt, grey shirt or black shirt any year. He competed all 4 years. He had some athletic scholarship all 4 years. He properly represented tennis, his university and the NCAA. It seems he qualifies, somehow, for some scholarship money from someone for the 9th semester. If we can't get some $$ for the 9th semester, he's done. He will not ever get the degree. We are not the type of people to be able to come up with $15K or $30K.

I cannot believe that the name of the game is to play college tennis, promote the University, promote the sport, then "see ya, thanks for playing," and no diploma.

There's someone who works at the University that is bottlenecking the process. She has been known to make a lot of really big mistakes before. (hmmm Peter Principal.) She thinks the NCAA offers a 6th years scholarship, not a 5th year scholarship. I think she's wrong. We need the 5th year.

 

[tennismom42]

The college/university red shirts you. So you can still get your five years of scholarship money. Usually the college/university will give you the sixth year scholarship on your grades and not the athletic ability. You will not be able to play sports in the sixth year unless you apply to the NCAA for special circumstances.

So you say it's the University that gives him the money, not the NCAA? Full ride from the University? It seems fair since he represented the University well.

"the lady" at the University is new. It is possible that she does not know this avenue. My son did apply for the University's scholarship as well.

 

[Gut4Tennis]

My kid has just finished his 8th semester. He's competing this week in Illinois. He has been at 1 University all 4 years. He did not red shirt, grey shirt or black shirt any year. He competed all 4 years. He had some athletic scholarship all 4 years. He properly represented tennis, his university and the NCAA. It seems he qualifies, somehow, for some scholarship money from someone for the 9th semester. If we can't get some $$ for the 9th semester, he's done. He will not ever get the degree. We are not the type of people to be able to come up with $15K or $30K.

I cannot believe that the name of the game is to play college tennis, promote the University, promote the sport, then "see ya, thanks for playing," and no diploma.

There's someone who works at the University that is bottlenecking the process. She has been known to make a lot of really big mistakes before. (hmmm Peter Principal.) She thinks the NCAA offers a 6th years scholarship, not a 5th year scholarship. I think she's wrong. We need the 5th year.

i feel your pain. did he not take enough credits early on to finish in time?

 

[tennis_ocd]

So I am really confused. Apparently in NCAA there's a term, "5th year." There's a scholarship, supposedly for student athletes who were unable to get their degree done during 4 years.

My kid is not getting done in 4 years.

We have the paperwork filled out for the scholarship, but someone at the university refuses to sign because she interprets it as a "6th year scholarship." (SIXTH year)

How in the heck do you ever reach a 6th year, if you can't afford to attend the first day of the 5th year?

Second, I think if you can't get it done in 5 years, why is someone giving away money for a 6th time?

The packet has to be mailed & date stamped May 24. Can someone help me understand how a recruited athlete gets thrown under the bus like this?
How can we get the 5th year paid? Actually 4 1/2 years would be sufficient.

Sounds like a communication problem. (I've heard of 6th year eligibility but not a 6th year scholarship.) Keep politely at it.

The NCAA recognizes the difficulty in completing college in four years while playing D1 and permits a 5th year financial aid package for those students wanting to complete. Believe individual colleges control this.

Typically must be on aid previous year or two, need athletic dept/head coach recommendation, adequate grades, perhaps some volunteer hours to athletic dept 5th year.... Clearly it helps you and the student but it also reflects positively on the school's graduation numbers.

 

[jaggy]

There are so many exceptions to all NCAA rules so its impossible to comment without recognizing this. I would strongly encourage you to contact the sport administrator for tennis at that school and see why someone is not signing off on this. If that administrator is the problem try above, an associate AD or the AD her/himself.

 

[TennisTaxi]

Have you talked to the coach or the athletic director...they should be able to help. My son has an "athletic adviser" through the athletic department that walks him through everything....

Don't give up, you can even call the NCAA directly!!

 

[beernutz]

http://www.montana.edu/bobcats/images/academics/5thyrapp.pdf
http://www.csus.edu/sarc/pdf/F11 Spr 12 5th year scholarship policy & Appl..pdf

Are these the kind of scholarships you are talking about? The two forms I found online for them both had to be signed by the head coach. Perhaps that would be a good place for your son to start asking.

 

[goldy0084]

Really impossible to say without knowing your exact situation. But, fifth year aid is usually awarded to players who have exhausted eligibility and have 30 or less credits to graduate. Generally speaking, it is up to each athletic department to choose how much they fund the student-athlete for the final year. Some big schools just automatically pay everything. While, some smaller D1 schools have to "ration" out the aid and divvy it up to student-athletes they determine most in need.

In general, the student-athlete has to apply and the coach, AD, and another admin member have to sign off on a form(s). The players who usually get in a fifth-year aid situation are international kids who come in January and really have no reason to play their last fall (without being able to play the dual season).

The thing that puzzles me is that your kid is playing at the NCAA's (individuals, I am assuming), which means not only is he probably playing for a big school, but is damn good. The first person that anyone would ever talk to about fifth-year aid would be their coach (then maybe an Assoc AD of Academics support for Athletics). So why haven't they talked to the coach??? The only reason a coach wouldn't sign off on fifth-year aid would be if the player was a total a-hole and was behind in credits for not going to class...or some similar situation where the player had done something seriously wrong. Why would a coach or athletic department not want to help out a stud kid who made the NCAA's as well, assuming he/she is a good kid?

Without doing a redshirt or medical redshirt, the only reason you would usually be behind to graduate would be if you took a lighter load to focus on tennis or if you had trouble balancing the two. You could do 24/48 for your first two years and 60 credits is full time. Take a look at this link for progress toward graduation. http://www.uiowa.edu/~athlss/current students/eligibility/ncaa eligibility.htm

So if he/she has done 8 semesters and is in good academic/athletic standing, I don't see why there is an issue.

 

[treeman10]

.................The only reason a coach wouldn't sign off on fifth-year aid would be if the player was a total a-hole and was behind in credits for not going to class...or some similar situation where the player had done something seriously wrong. Why would a coach or athletic department not want to help out a stud kid who made the NCAA's as well, assuming he/she is a good kid?

Without doing a redshirt or medical redshirt, the only reason you would usually be behind to graduate would be if you took a lighter load to focus on tennis or if you had trouble balancing the two. You could do 24/48 for your first two years and 60 credits is full time. Take a look at this link for progress toward graduation. http://www.uiowa.edu/~athlss/current students/eligibility/ncaa eligibility.htm

So if he/she has done 8 semesters and is in good academic/athletic standing, I don't see why there is an issue.

The coach doesn't sign off on the money, the school does. This $ doesn't come from the athletic budget, it frequently comes from the budget with things like medical hardship, etc., ..the coach can be ok with it, but the admin has the final say and has to have the bucket of money to work with. Sometimes they don't or the medical hardship overrules your situation and wins the funds.

Also, anyone that plays at the "Illinois this week" level knows why it is hard to get behind. Changing majors, only realizing when you get to school how hard playing tennis and getting good grades really is..missing 20 days of classes for spring travel and having to drop rather than take a low grade, lots of reasons a D1 player/family would know and understand.

So the kid doesn't have to be an ahole, do something wrong or be an underachiever to find themselves in this position.

 

[tennis_ocd]

We have the paperwork filled out for the scholarship, but someone at the university refuses to sign because she interprets it as a "6th year scholarship." (SIXTH year)

This is the communication disconnect. There are many good reasons why FIFTH year money is sometimes available; and why it could be needed. It is a local school thing but stress that it's in both your interests that the kid GRADUATE. (It's not "owed" to the student-athlete. Approach politely with how it's mutually beneficial - kid represented school well and will continue to contribute voluntarily to athletic dept AND school gets better rate of graduation numbers.)

Please tell us how it went....

 

[goldy0084]

At almost all programs the money does come from the department. I just signed off on two applications this year. Unless you are a current division 1 coach or administrator your credibility is null. You are right in that the coach does not sign off on the money per se. But, you do have to sign the student-athletes request for aid and can refuse to sign it. If you choose not to sign it, you have to speak with your AD and better have a great reason as to why you won't sign it. Regardless, the AD's decision will always trump that of a coach. As the other poster mentioned, it is always in the best interest of everyone to have people graduate, as APR standards are increasing and penalties are starting to get assessed. I was not suggesting that the only way to be in a situation like this is to be a jerk. It is merely just one possibility. I was simply presenting a scenario where a player may have been refused fifth year aid.