Is Your Child Attending College On Athletic Scolarship? Pros/Cons?

[thepastord]

Much talk about tennis scholarships, and if they are really worth the amount of time and money most parents pour into obtaining it. If your kid is going to a college DI/DII, describe your families overall experience, and the pros and cons. Give us some details on some of the things that occur, that you were not expecting.

If your child is playing DIII, let us know how the experience and academic package has worked for you. Do you feel it was better not having the money connected to actual playing?

 

[D1 Parent]

Much talk about tennis scholarships, and if they are really worth the amount of time and money most parents pour into obtaining it. If your kid is going to a college DI/DII, describe your families overall experience, and the pros and cons. Give us some details on some of the things that occur, that you were not expecting.

If your child is playing DIII, let us know how the experience and academic package has worked for you. Do you feel it was better not having the money connected to actual playing?

My son is a freshman at a D1 university on a tennis scholarship. As you probably should already know there are only 4.5 scholarships at a D1 school. With most schools carrying a roster of between 8 and 12 players it doesn't come as a surprise that there isn't a lot of money to go around. Full rides are almost unheard of. Yes, there are some players that get them. Clearly most people will not get the return on their junior tennis investment in a true "1 for 1" dollar for dollar exchange. However there are intangibles that it will bring to your child such as even giving them the option of playing collegiate tennis at a very high level.

My son has already commented on "how ridiculously hard the practices are" and the work he has to put in. Clearly this is what he wanted but it isn't just stroking some ground strokes and calling it a day. They work hard. He is earning, it appears, every dollar of scholarship money he was given. Not sure if this helps but just a few comments on the overall process.

 

[thepastord]

D1 Parent,

Thank you very much for sharing your families experience. I wish your son well in all his endeavors!

 

[10smaster]

My son went to a D1 program on an athletic scholarship which paid for 90% of his tuition only. Remember there is only 4.5 scholarships for men's tennis. He would be the first to admit that it was a very demanding experience not only because of the amount of practice times and weights but trying to manage the academic demands. Most of the players on his team had to return for a 5th year to complete their degrees or as in the case of my son, end up taking just the minimum credits per semester then sacrificing his summers to make up the missing credits. Also, he ended up changing his major becasue in his third year he would have had to do an internship which he couldn't do because of tennis commitments. Another point, he was on a scholarship that was not guaranteed each year or even semester! He played one semester with severe shoulder and wrist problems even though he was not fit to do so. He also lost his scholarship money for one semester because he couldn't keep up his GPA. He was also thinking of doing a semester abroad but that never materialized either. I also have a daughter who also played high level tennis and had numerous opportunites with D1schools that would offer "Full rides" but she choose education over tennis and is now attending a DIII program. DIII schools do not offer athletic scholarships and is based on financial needs of each student/family. Financially I would haved loved her to take a D1 offer but at the end, I know she made the right choice. DIII still offer a high level but also still offer a lot of academic choices. Many of her team mates go abroad for a semester or do internship without sacrificing their spots on the team, and since they only play on the weekends, making class and good grades is not a problem. DIII has been a great overall experience for her so far and she will probably go on to a post grad program. I'm not saying that one program is better than the other. I'm just trying to point out the differences and what you may anticipate. For my son, he has a great passion for tennis and wanted to have a college experience. He has chosen tennis as his career path as he is now working with high performance juniors at a tennis academy and still dabbles in the Futures/Challengers while my daughter has chosen to use tennis to help her get into a very prestigious school. Bottomline: choose the school for the right reasons because your child will be there for the next four years.

 

[thepastord]

10smaster,

Thank you for sharing! Your experience as a family really helps identify the "Real" choices that are out there, and what a big impact they can have for a lifetime........ My daughter is like yours, academics! She plays tennis because she loves it, and even though she is good enough for some DI, she has no interest. It's all about choices and knowledge about the ins, outs and the many hidden in between.

 

[marco forehand]

Short version of our story. I have had three kids attend college (2 have graduated, 1 has a few years left to go).
My oldest, turned down athletic scholarship offers, went with the smaller academic scholarship. Finished school with less then $20K in school loans to pay (the household policy is that the kids pay 1/4 of their undergraduate cost),then found work in his field. Still plays tennis
The second kid's story shows a different angle on this. He had D1 scholarship offers from schools ranked between 30th and 50th in the ITA rankings. Most of the state school's scholarships were in the 25% to 35% range. Good academics with one school having a great reputation in the medical research field that interested him.
He choose a private school, out of the ITA rankings, with VERY demanding academics. We believe his tennis is what allowed him to get into the school (it's certainly what allowed us to afford the school).
The combined academic and athletic work load was intense, but he understood that going in and that was his choice. With his scholarship and his family's contribution, he graduated with no school loans. He is working today with the expectation of going to med school after decompressing (working just 40 hours/week) for a year. I expect him to take some time off from tennis but to come back to it later in life.
Finally, my youngest is all about her tennis, wanted a ITA top ranked program, one that fully supported it's student athletes in every way. She also wanted a school that excelled in a variety of other sports because she enjoys attending soccer,volleyball, football (etc) games with import.
The combination of school work and tennis work is tough, but it's a different mix then her brother's. She seems very happy after her first year. I won't be surprised if tennis is something she does for income.
I'm interested in this subject because I think there are so many options available to families, but I had no idea about this stuff when my kids took up tennis and I've learned through our experience.
Balancing junior tennis, school, social and other parts of life was/is a challenge. You have to make choices about the mix when your kids are young. Hopefully, by the time they are 16 or 17 they can start to make those choices for themselves.

 

[thepastord]

Marco forehand,

Thank you!

 

[Tennishacker]

My daughter scored 1790 on the SAT and had a 3.65 GPA at a public high school and played 4 years on her team. She also was a 5 star that played all the junior nat'l L1-3 tournaments.

That said, she is on scholarship to a Socal Div.1 school, and finds the academics and tennis program easier than when she was in high school.
I don't know about the academics, but I do agree that college tennis is much less demanding on her then when she was in high school when she had team matches 2-3 days a week, plus all the junior tournaments on the weekends. Boy was my wife busy driving to every event.

 

[hopeful]

My daughter scored 1790 on the SAT and had a 3.65 GPA at a public high school and played 4 years on her team. She also was a 5 star that played all the junior nat'l L1-3 tournaments.

That said, she is on scholarship to a Socal Div.1 school, and finds the academics and tennis program easier than when she was in high school.
I don't know about the academics, but I do agree that college tennis is much less demanding on her then when she was in high school when she had team matches 2-3 days a week, plus all the junior tournaments on the weekends. Boy was my wife busy driving to every event.

1790 ?

 

[bogdan101]

1790 ?

Yeah, that's about the year that message was posted.

 

[hopeful]

Yeah, that's about the year that message was posted.

lol didn't even realize the date of the message