Parents expecting me to obtain a full track scholarship

"Full Scholarship" is a term from the past. Now, it's "Packages."

The school will look at your athletic achievements, combined with academic achievements, and offer you a Package. It might be 90% of the tuition, or it might be 55%, it depends. To be considered a top D1 prospect in men's 800m, you would need to be in the low 1:50's. By top D1, I'm talking Oregon, Stanford, Clemson , etc. there are programs that are D1, but not very well known or good. Central Connecticut State University is D1. And, I doubt you would need to be a 1:50 800m to get consideration or interest from them.

Many parents have no clue and listen too much at the water cooler to people telling everyone their nephew got a full ride to ND or Wake Forest. These people just don't know any better. for you, OP, find a school, with a good coach, a selection of programs in the school that you would consider for a major, and also location and atmosphere. Not everyone would be comfortable at Alabama, and not everyone would like University of Maine.

Remember the simplest option: ROTC.

TrackCoach wrote:

Even if you improve by a lot this spring, completely forget about a full ride. Unless you are one of those few athletes blue chips athletes who can score points in multiple events as a freshman; colleges simply don't give out too many full rides anymore. With that said, your grades ACT score will be attractive to a lot of schools and might be good enough to get you some academic scholarship money. If you can get down to 1:54/4:18 combined with your academics, should get you a half ride at perhaps a mid-major.

1:54/4:18 will get you zero interest from a mid-major. The academics will get you in and some decent financial aid. Those times will have you a walk on and then off the team in 3 months. Lots of "smaller" D1 schools will give you some athletic aid, but not much. D2 a better option or as others have suggested, Ivy or military academy.

Lots of bad advice in this thread but this is actually pretty easy. Ignore your parents and just apply to the best schools you can get into. Focus on D3s like Williams College and Ivy League universities. At your household income you will get a full ride (more or less). For context, I was in a very similar situation-- grades, ACT, and running-wise. I kept my parents in the dark about how much the colleges I was applying to cost at full price and we didn't discuss until the financial aid packages were back. BTW, your times are worth ~150 SAT points at the target schools.

hs kid wrote:

I have saved about $8000 from summer and winter jobs. I hope to bring that closer to $12000 with graduation party bonuses.

Graduation party bonuses?! What kind of world is this?!?!?!?!

This entire thread is an example of what we have become......

799 wrote:

He didn't end up breaking 16:30 but still got a decent scholarship off of about 17 flat.

I call BS on this. No way a dude gets a decent athletic scholarship with a 17:00. Absolutely no way. He probably also had a 32 ACT. That's where the money came from.

Go to state school, take student loans, end up with small debt.

limeinmydrink wrote:

hs kid wrote:

I have saved about $8000 from summer and winter jobs. I hope to bring that closer to $12000 with graduation party bonuses.

Graduation party bonuses?! What kind of world is this?!?!?!?!

You didnt have a graduation party where people gave you money? He's probably saying that in addition to saving another $3000 he will get $1000 or more from parents' friends. I used that money to buy a computer.

ok, but he's getting $4000

Another huge reward for doing what you're supposed to do

Ray wrote:

ok, but he's getting $4000

Another huge reward for doing what you're supposed to do

Do you work for free? There is nothing wrong with cash as motivation for some goal.

OP, don't be too emotional about your parents not understanding how it all works. Try to educate them and be the leader in your college pursuit.

Do not get into a situation where you are in major debt over school. The college on the diploma doesn't mean that much once you leave school. Sure, there are exceptions, but for most, it doesn't matter too much.

hs kid wrote:

Here are my PRs:

800 1:56

1600 4:22

3200 9:37

I'm assuming that you're a Junior. You have some time to improve your times in Outdoor track. If you can get below 4:20/9:20, you will get some interest from some D1 programs, especially since you have good 800 speed.

That coupled with academic- and need-based aid can get you a package that's < $5K per year out of pocket, especially if you're going to an in state school. If so, you can get a Stafford loan to cover the difference.

I'd be pinging coaches if/when I hit some good outdoor times in the Spring.

college bum wrote:

limeinmydrink wrote:

Graduation party bonuses?! What kind of world is this?!?!?!?!

You didnt have a graduation party where people gave you money? He's probably saying that in addition to saving another $3000 he will get $1000 or more from parents' friends. I used that money to buy a computer.

Is that a thing? Never heard of that. I had kids graduate high school and so did my relatives and friends. Should we have done that?

40 years ago in D1, my team mate was a 1:53, 4:09 guy and got 25%.

Forget it The number of scholarships are low, and you need to be running 1:45.

You seem like a bright guy, find a good academic school and run if you want to.

Gender is more important.

Come out as LGBT, race as a girl and clean up with those times. Work hard and you might face Caster Semenya in a couple of years

Dad to the bone wrote:

college bum wrote:

You didnt have a graduation party where people gave you money? He's probably saying that in addition to saving another $3000 he will get $1000 or more from parents' friends. I used that money to buy a computer.

Is that a thing? Never heard of that. I had kids graduate high school and so did my relatives and friends. Should we have done that?

I'd say it is a pretty standard thing where I am from. You have a grad party, people come eat subs, finger foods and cheetos. They come with an envelope with a card and tucked in is like $50-$200 in cash.

Honestly, ROTC is your best option. You get a full year for as a trial period, so where ever you go, you can guarantee a free year for yourself. If you have grades like that as well as that kind of fitness, barring no mental or physical handicaps you should be able to get one rather easily. You could always entertain the Naval Academy/ Air Force / West Point / Coast guard/ merchant marine if you really want to run competitively and get that full ride. ROTC and running at a big ten school would be pretty difficult and I wouldn't expect to sleep much.

Not Cool Bro wrote:

Suck it up and take out $80-100 thousand in student loans and pay them off for the rest of your life like the rest of us.

For reals dude. Take out the loans, and ruin your life.

Just kidding. I'd listen to the smart advice about leveraging your academics.

Consider additional schools that will offer a full ride, enjoy the experience, get good grades. Then go to a high-end school for your Masters Degree. The BA/BS degree won't matter much at that point.

Ivy Leagues, NESCAC schools, West Point, Annapolis, Air Force, Coast Guard, and some of the other elite DIII academic schools out there.

You won't be getting any athletic scholarships from them, but if you maintain your grades (and take challenging classes), your running will make you a solid applicant with a good chance at admissions. With your parent's income, you'll have very generous financial aid at most of these schools that beats out what most athletes with better PRs will get in athletic aid from a power 5 school, and you'll have a top-notch education. The military academies pay you to go there, and have no tuition, but you'll have a 5 year service commitment.