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This is an interesting question that comes up frequently among high school coaches, players, and parents. If a talented high school athlete in a given sport is offered a partial athletic scholarship to compete in his sport and he must go out of state to do so because he is not being recruited in state, or maybe the area universities do not have his sports, is it worth going out of state and at the end pay more money than stay in state, pay less, but not compete in college athletics?
-It seems that for some people it depends in the sport and the realistic chance to make it in the big leagues in baseball, or Football.
- For some, if the difference going away costs just a little higher than staying home and not playing sport, it may be worth it for the experience.
- Some may argue that if it means taking out considerable amounts of student loans to do so compared to staying in state and paying in state tuition, it is definitely NOT WORTH IT.
-Then there are others that would rack up quite a bit of student loans for the opportunity to play college sports where other wise they would not have to if they stayed home. In their view, since you are young once, IT IS WORTH IT.
This is an interesting question that comes up frequently among high school coaches, players, and parents. If a talented high school athlete in a given sport is offered a partial athletic scholarship to compete in his sport and he must go out of state to do so because he is not being recruited in state, or maybe the area universities do not have his sports, is it worth going out of state and at the end pay more money than stay in state, pay less, but not compete in college athletics?
-It seems that for some people it depends in the sport and the realistic chance to make it in the big leagues in baseball, or Football.
- For some, if the difference going away costs just a little higher than staying home and not playing sport, it may be worth it for the experience.
- Some may argue that if it means taking out considerable amounts of student loans to do so compared to staying in state and paying in state tuition, it is definitely NOT WORTH IT.
-Then there are others that would rack up quite a bit of student loans for the opportunity to play college sports where other wise they would not have to if they stayed home. In their view, since you are young once, IT IS WORTH IT.
Any opinions on this topic?
What level are we looking at. D1, D2, D3, Naia, Junior College?
Yes, NCAA Division 1 and Division 2 offers athletic scholarship. Division 3 does not offer athletic scholarship. Some Junior colleges offers athletic scholarships as well. Believe it or not, NAIA offers quite a bit, depending on the school.
Division 1 is obviously the most popular and recognized division in all of college athletics. That is why many times they don't offer as much besides the fact that there are limits in the amount of scholarships offered at the D1 level. Most people that I know or have known that have gotten large loans to play college sports has been at the D1 level. Even though I know a few that have accumulated quite a bit of loans at other divisions as well.
Taking out a student loan just to be able to play college ball is a waste of money. Very few college athletes make it into the pro leagues unless they are at the top of their game, and if they were at the top of their game they more than likely would have been offered a full athletic scholarship instead of partial.
You also do not need to have been a college athlete to enter into the pro leagues. The do hold try-outs, you know.
I thought you were referring to a specific example, which is why I asked what level.
Here is my experience:
I played my freshman year at a community college and got all of my tuition paid for.
I decided to transfer out my sophomore year and was mainly recruited by Division II and NAIA schools. The only Division I school that offered me a scholarship was out of state, expensive, and only offered me a partial. I really wanted to play Div. 1, but knew the cost would have been ridiculous.
I ended up playing at an in state NAIA school, got a partial my first year and full tuition my junior and senior year.
To answer the question(s):
Is it a waist of money? That depends. You will be getting an education and be playing a sport you love. But since you dont have a specific example, its hard to give advise on the subject.
Last time I checked you go to college for an education, not to play sports. I know, there are plenty that are there because of the sports but in reality you are still there to get an education. If someone wants to go to a school that will cost more then the scholarship, they are not taking loans to play a sport, they are taking loans to get an education. There is about a zero percent chance that this student will ever earn money playing a professional sport if he or she is not being recruited by a D1 college so why not focus on the education and play the sport for the fun of the sport? A very, very small percentage of students on athletic scholarships receive a full ride anywhere, including D1 schools.
I certainly wouldn't take out loans with the idea that there was a chance of going pro - that's just not likely, and if a student athlete were that good wouldn't he (or she) be one of the few (very few) getting a full ride to begin with? Maybe there would be other good reasons to attend the school or to take out loans, but students need to be aware of the consequences of starting out post-college life saddled with excessive student debt.
In some cases I could see that maybe it would be worth it. You are going to school for the education, but maybe if your ultimate career goal was to be something sports-related (and I'm talking something other than a professional athlete) then yes, maybe having personal experience playing college sports would be an essential, or at least beneficial, line on the resume or in the official bio.
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