NLI Questions/athletic and/or academic aid

[jcgatennismom]

Some of my son's older friends will be signing NLIs next week, and I was curious about some things:

1) Technically there is no NLI if no athletic aid is given. I heard of some players last year who were not given athletic $ last year but were told there could be $ soph year. However, I know those boys signed NLIs. Do coaches give token amounts, e.g $500 or $1000 to preferred walk ons so they sign NLIs and can't be recruited by other schools?
2) Do coaches attach any letter related to stacked academic and/or other aid along with the NLI? For those who read this post and who received a mix of academic/athletic/and/or financial aid, did the coach give you an estimate of the academic/need aid at the time of the athletic offer and in most cases did the actual academic/financial aid match up with what the coach said?

From reading the NLI FAQ, it sounds like the NLI is only voided if the student is not accepted into the university. If the coach leaves, the recruit is still obligated to the NLI. If promised academic aid does not come through or is less than expected, it sounds like the recruit can't be released-may be they could appeal. If an offer was a mix of athletic and academic aid, and for some reason (student fault-grades, or no fault-school divides academic $ over lots of students reducing amount), the academic scholarship is reduced below estimate, the student could be tied to a school he/she cant afford and he/she might have to sit out a year or go another year to an affordable school before they could ask for release to play at another school.

My son is a junior in the recruiting process. Although he wont sign a NLI until fall 2016, I want to understand the process and ask the right questions when he visits schools. Some schools there is no way he'd get academic aid but tennis will help with admissions. If he goes in state academic aid is almost a sure thing as the bar is not set that high for tuition aid. At least one private school thinks he will qualify for stacked aid. With players often getting verbal offers in spring of their junior year, do admissions offices give academic scholarship estimates when the junior year is not finished? I would think they would need both test scores and a transcript through junior year at least to offer merit aid in addition to athletic aid. The tricky thing is players may have some concrete partial athletic offers in the spring or summer and other offers with some definite pieces (athletic) and some estimates-academic scholarship. With my daughter, as a nonathlete, she got her academic scholarship and admissions offers Dec-Feb of her senior year. However players can't wait until they have all the answers to decide. If you or your player can relate from past recruiting, any advice would be appreciated.

Also can someone explain about D3 schools? I know they dont give athletic scholarships. Some people say D3 schools find $- this aid is not necessary tied to grades and test scores-maybe it is under leadership, character, etc. I am not talking about the super selective D3s but other D3s. My son has gotten Emails from D3 coaches but has not followed up as we assume those schools will be too expensive and he has more affordable D1/D2 options. Does anyone have experience getting D3 aid that was not just need or academic based?

 

[watergirl]

Some of my son's older friends will be signing NLIs next week, and I was curious about some things:

1) Technically there is no NLI if no athletic aid is given. I heard of some players last year who were not given athletic $ last year but were told there could be $ soph year. However, I know those boys signed NLIs. Do coaches give token amounts, e.g $500 or $1000 to preferred walk ons so they sign NLIs and can't be recruited by other schools?
2) Do coaches attach any letter related to stacked academic and/or other aid along with the NLI? For those who read this post and who received a mix of academic/athletic/and/or financial aid, did the coach give you an estimate of the academic/need aid at the time of the athletic offer and in most cases did the actual academic/financial aid match up with what the coach said?

From reading the NLI FAQ, it sounds like the NLI is only voided if the student is not accepted into the university. If the coach leaves, the recruit is still obligated to the NLI. If promised academic aid does not come through or is less than expected, it sounds like the recruit can't be released-may be they could appeal. If an offer was a mix of athletic and academic aid, and for some reason (student fault-grades, or no fault-school divides academic $ over lots of students reducing amount), the academic scholarship is reduced below estimate, the student could be tied to a school he/she cant afford and he/she might have to sit out a year or go another year to an affordable school before they could ask for release to play at another school.

My son is a junior in the recruiting process. Although he wont sign a NLI until fall 2016, I want to understand the process and ask the right questions when he visits schools. Some schools there is no way he'd get academic aid but tennis will help with admissions. If he goes in state academic aid is almost a sure thing as the bar is not set that high for tuition aid. At least one private school thinks he will qualify for stacked aid. With players often getting verbal offers in spring of their junior year, do admissions offices give academic scholarship estimates when the junior year is not finished? I would think they would need both test scores and a transcript through junior year at least to offer merit aid in addition to athletic aid. The tricky thing is players may have some concrete partial athletic offers in the spring or summer and other offers with some definite pieces (athletic) and some estimates-academic scholarship. With my daughter, as a nonathlete, she got her academic scholarship and admissions offers Dec-Feb of her senior year. However players can't wait until they have all the answers to decide. If you or your player can relate from past recruiting, any advice would be appreciated.

Also can someone explain about D3 schools? I know they dont give athletic scholarships. Some people say D3 schools find $- this aid is not necessary tied to grades and test scores-maybe it is under leadership, character, etc. I am not talking about the super selective D3s but other D3s. My son has gotten Emails from D3 coaches but has not followed up as we assume those schools will be too expensive and he has more affordable D1/D2 options. Does anyone have experience getting D3 aid that was not just need or academic based?

Some of my son's older friends will be signing NLIs next week, and I was curious about some things:

1) Technically there is no NLI if no athletic aid is given. I heard of some players last year who were not given athletic $ last year but were told there could be $ soph year. However, I know those boys signed NLIs. Do coaches give token amounts, e.g $500 or $1000 to preferred walk ons so they sign NLIs and can't be recruited by other schools?
2) Do coaches attach any letter related to stacked academic and/or other aid along with the NLI? For those who read this post and who received a mix of academic/athletic/and/or financial aid, did the coach give you an estimate of the academic/need aid at the time of the athletic offer and in most cases did the actual academic/financial aid match up with what the coach said?

From reading the NLI FAQ, it sounds like the NLI is only voided if the student is not accepted into the university. If the coach leaves, the recruit is still obligated to the NLI. If promised academic aid does not come through or is less than expected, it sounds like the recruit can't be released-may be they could appeal. If an offer was a mix of athletic and academic aid, and for some reason (student fault-grades, or no fault-school divides academic $ over lots of students reducing amount), the academic scholarship is reduced below estimate, the student could be tied to a school he/she cant afford and he/she might have to sit out a year or go another year to an affordable school before they could ask for release to play at another school.

My son is a junior in the recruiting process. Although he wont sign a NLI until fall 2016, I want to understand the process and ask the right questions when he visits schools. Some schools there is no way he'd get academic aid but tennis will help with admissions. If he goes in state academic aid is almost a sure thing as the bar is not set that high for tuition aid. At least one private school thinks he will qualify for stacked aid. With players often getting verbal offers in spring of their junior year, do admissions offices give academic scholarship estimates when the junior year is not finished? I would think they would need both test scores and a transcript through junior year at least to offer merit aid in addition to athletic aid. The tricky thing is players may have some concrete partial athletic offers in the spring or summer and other offers with some definite pieces (athletic) and some estimates-academic scholarship. With my daughter, as a nonathlete, she got her academic scholarship and admissions offers Dec-Feb of her senior year. However players can't wait until they have all the answers to decide. If you or your player can relate from past recruiting, any advice would be appreciated.

Also can someone explain about D3 schools? I know they dont give athletic scholarships. Some people say D3 schools find $- this aid is not necessary tied to grades and test scores-maybe it is under leadership, character, etc. I am not talking about the super selective D3s but other D3s. My son has gotten Emails from D3 coaches but has not followed up as we assume those schools will be too expensive and he has more affordable D1/D2 options. Does anyone have experience getting D3 aid that was not just need or academic based?

 

[watergirl]

Just our experience - My son was offered an athletic scholarship which was a set dollar amount that came to 35% of the cost of school. The other academic scholarships came afterwards. He ended up with the academic offerings covering all but $500.00.

The NLI is between you and the school. Not the coach. If the coach leaves you are still obligated to the school.

D3 (which he transferred to) does not have a NLI. I would encourage your son to consider D3. My son found that most of the D3 private schools have generous scholarships and a couple of his offers made the tuition either equivalent or even less than many of the state schools (in our state). Academic wise the D3 he is at is far more challenging than the state school he was at.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Just our experience - My son was offered an athletic scholarship which was a set dollar amount that came to 35% of the cost of school. The other academic scholarships came afterwards. He ended up with the academic offerings covering all but $500.00.

The NLI is between you and the school. Not the coach. If the coach leaves you are still obligated to the school.

D3 (which he transferred to) does not have a NLI. I would encourage your son to consider D3. My son found that most of the D3 private schools have generous scholarships and a couple of his offers made the tuition either equivalent or even less than many of the state schools (in our state). Academic wise the D3 he is at is far more challenging than the state school he was at.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It is a shame so many players like your son end up transferring. I hope we can get it right 1st go round My son's current top 3 choices are very different, but the one thing they have in common is a well liked coach (by parents, players, pros) who is known for developing players. However, the coach can leave...unlikely in 2 of the choices, probably a risk at the 3rd.

So in your original situation, your son accepted an athletic offer and later got academic $ too. Did the coach tell you at the time he thought your son would qualify for academic? Some schools have fairly clear standards for scholarships,e.g. a certain GPA and minimum test scores gets x $. We know this from our daughter (not a tennis player) who had an academic only scholarship and is in grad school now. Other schools may have fluctuating scholarship criteria based on the strength of the freshman class which means families might not know what merit aid player would get until later winter/early spring of senior year. I agree with what you say-if you can get a smaller private school with aid for the same cost as a state school, you are getting a good deal. However, my son likes the big public schools, but does have one much smaller school in his current top 3. He is OK with a small school IF it is near a big city He has visited schools but not a college class yet. He will get to attend a small college class next week,and maybe he will see that experience is better than a large lecture hall class.

 

[watergirl]

The transfer: I think he did not investigate the coach thoroughly. He was tired of responding to emails and phone calls. Tired of negotiating the scholarship. He just wanted it over. He liked what the coach told him what was good with his game and what was not. And the coach told him he would be a starter. My son's #1 condition was that he had to be in the line up the first year. He was not willing to go and ride a bench for a year. That said, he signed an NLI at a school that did not meet several of his requirements - large city, smaller school, good academics, a robust campus life. The school he selected - he played 2 dub and 4/5 singles, 100,000 city, 8,000 at school, so-so academics, and everyone goes home for the weekend.

His D3 meets all his criteria and he should have waited until Spring before signing the NLI and followed the application process through for all the schools he applied to.

So to your questions - at this school the coach did not state that my son would qualify for academic scholarships but did make us aware of some that were available. We knew (based on SAT scores) that he would qualify for at least some of an academic. What really paid off was being a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship which paid all his tuition. At some of the other schools (in particular D3) when we told them his SAT scores (which were good but not out of this world), the coaches stated that he would get 1/2 off the tuition.

Bear in mind that the Coach's are selling you on their program. The real feedback needs to come from players involved in the program. My Son has reached out to several guys at different schools on the behalf of other players in high school to get the real scoop. Sometimes its good and sometimes its not.