Finally, the real deal about D1 P5 Scholarships

Auburn, like most major universities, does not increase its scholarships based on college performance unless you are scoring at nationals. When 10 guys graduate who who have a combined 3 scholarships, the coach was using those while he was out recruiting all year. He isn't sliding those scholarships to the current guys. No P5 school would be able to recruit anyone if they applied the scholarship standards to the current team. while the standards are tough for HS kids, the team should be loaded with guys who are now surpassing those marks. So you need to examine the HS achievements of the guys to see what they are likely getting. The rumor is that Auburn puts 1 scholarship into distance. As far as the so-called slow guys that you are calling out, you should have looked at HS times.

Stone is a multi guy

McDounough 4:18 full mile in HS

Komen is Kenyan

Tucker 9:14 and 4:14 in HS

Armes 4:10 in HS

The bottom line is that Auburn publishes times that are historically what have been used but of course they would change year to year depending on the strength of the team.

Another good example of 4:10 and 4:14 guys walking onto D1 teams. It contradicts all of those guys claiming to get full rides with a 4:20

I just checked half a dozen non-P6 conference schools and they don't have standards. Full scholarship determined on case by case basis.

Hate me now, but I got 100% full ride to a non-P6 school with technically a 4:32 1600m PR, although my XC time was 15:20.

Here are scholarship standards for UNF (Division I, Atlantic Sun)

1600m, 4:17

3200m, 9:20

https://static.unfospreys.com/custompages/Archives/TF/Track%20&%20Field%20Standards%20Updated.pdf

Nobody hates you because nobody believes you. There is no way you got tuition, room, food, books, and expenses paid because the coach could have gotten 100 guys faster than you who would have accepted the deal. Please tell us which school it was and what year. Many readers are actively searching for a program. Help the kids out.

Good find. I found Liberty walk-on at 4:19 and 9:25. Scholarships start at 4:14.

I'm not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. Every school has different standards because they all have different variables associated with their situation. T

here are plenty of fast guys (4:10 1600) who decide going to a 'name' school is more important than getting scholarship money... and because of that some of the 'non-name' schools might be forced to give money to a slower hs kid who looks like he might develop... Additionally, some schools put more money towards distance because they aren't concerned with winning track meets (or would have trouble attracting a sprinter or jumper)... other schools want to win track meets... they spend less on distance yet this school might be a 'name' school so it will get distance kids to go there because it sounds good (or because it gives them the education they are looking for)...

It seems pretty straight forward. There is money out there but not for everyone and not always at the place you want to go.

Yes, most people understand. It is the other camp that refuses to recognize the facts. There seems to be more people on this forum thinking that every fast guy is getting money when the majority are not. There really are many kids desperately searching for any scholarship that they can get at any no-name D1 school. When there are published standards at P5 as well as no name mid majors, it is reasonable to believe those standards more than some guy in his basement who claims to have received a scholarship. Notice that nobody has produced any school that publishes standards much different than the others, it is reasonable to believe that they do not exist. Also, nobody will ever provide the name of their alma mater. Wouldn't you want to help in recruiting better runners to your alma mater?

Me and my buddy ran 4:22 as juniors. We have looked everywhere and received no scholarship offers. What school gave you the full ride?

My son ran 4:18 jr year, 52 in 400 sophomore year; lots of schools saying they will take him as a walk on, none have offered any scholarship money

People are ignoring the facts to make a case here. The OP may be somewhat correct about the way in which athletic scholarships are allotted.

The “real deal” about P5 scholarships is that most freshman men will receive little to no money in their first year. A 4:20 mile in high school is pretty damn good, despite what cranky old men on this website will tell you, but it equates to a 4:02.5 1500, and that’s just not going to do much in college, so you’re likely starting out with no scholarship. Those freshmen who run fast enough in HS to immediately contribute to most programs rarely go to the teams where they’d be worth immediate money, and instead commit to elite programs where they begin relatively “at the bottom” of the scholarship food chain. Very, very few US freshman men are able to immediately contribute to a Power 5 team that is competitive at NCAAs less than half a year after their high school graduation. Two years ago, there were less than 10 that I can name (Cooper Teare, Reed Brown, Sam Worley, Casey Clinger, Waleed Suliman, Everett Smulders (only by track season), Luis Grijalva, and Callum Bolger). And those guys are from one of the best U.S. graduating classes EVER. This year, the 2017 CA D1 cross country champion Justin Hazel is redshirting at PortIand. In this sense the OP is absolutely right, because there is often a massive gap between a male who has D1 potential and a competitive D1 athlete (think Philo Germano for example).

Where the OP is wrong is his assumption that all NCAA programs have only 12.6 free educations to distribute amongst rosters which can be nearly 3x that size. There are a lot of different ways to funnel money to an athlete, particularly if a school emphasizes sports. I graduated from a mid-tier D1 school in 2015, and my athletic scholarship went from 5% to 10% over that time period. 10% would be about $4,000 dollars, but in addition to that I received a “dean’s grant” scholarship of $4,000 every year (despite that my high school GPA put me squarely in the middle of accepted applicants), and I had an unlimited meal plan paid for ($3,000 value yearly) and never paid for a textbook ($1,000 value yearly). So at a school with a yearly attendance cost of $40,000, I was paying only around $30,000 before even applying for any sort of aid. That’s not to mention the myriad other benefits I received as a student-athlete, including priority scheduling, priority housing, free on-campus parking, and a whole lot of stuff I’m not going to mention because of… well you know. Then there’s of course the awesome experience I had in being a college athlete, which certainly required sacrifice at the time, but has paid dividends ever since.

Lol this thread is exposing a whole lot of people. Anyone who’s actually been around a college program knows three things to be generally true:

A lot of freshmen start out w/ little to no scholly money.

The number 12.6 is basically a myth. Good athletic departments can finesse so much more.

There are so many things student-athletes get that aren’t considered a scholarship of any kind by officials, but that anyone else would consider an item of value.

Someone asked why no one is naming names, and it’s because no one wants to get their alma mater in hot water over bending the rules.

Many coaches have massive egos. Your kid is good.

My advice would be to see how your kid does in the beginning of his track season. If he gets down to 4:13/51mid he’ll get some offers from somewhere. It won’t be from top D1 programs though.

Nobody should believe those standards. Anyway, it is kind of moot, as the entirety of this thread is based on ignorance and made up supposition. There are no actual facts in evidence.

Not Quite believe wrote:

When there are published standards at P5 as well as no name mid majors, it is reasonable to believe those standards more than some guy in his basement who claims to have received a scholarship.

Also, nobody will ever provide the name of their alma mater. Wouldn't you want to help in recruiting better runners to your alma mater?

Are you looking only at p5? Or are you open to non-P5 schools?

I don't know what it was about this post but all of a sudden so many things just clicked. No, I'm saying I'll get money or what my times are, but all of a sudden a whole bunch of posts from various threads now make sense. Thanks!

Thank you! I forgot to add that my advice to all runners seeking a scholarship/to run in college is to keep your grades up! It is MUCH easier for a coach to find you money if they didn’t have to push just to get you admitted, and for kids who will start out as walk-ons it makes you look much more serious as a whole.

Once you are on campus… keep pushing! A lot of why kids burn out at the first sign of adversity these days, especially kids who have been elite all through high school. If you weren’t an elite kid for whatever reason, remember that college is a fresh chance to prove yourself with a new school, coach, and team. Very few high school stars are actually represented at the top of collegiate running. The rest of that field came from somewhere else…

If you live in CA, particularly the LA area and are on the bubble I strongly suggest you consider the junior college route. Great coaching and often better facilities than non P5 D1 schools. Cheap. Get to go to all the same invites as 4 year universities. Coaches love recruiting juco transfers due to maturity. I would be willing to bet that most CA Community Colleges have the same quality education as the Pac 12 (minus the UCs of course). I’ve seen many 9:40 kids with a few walk on opportunities out go this route and turn into D1 scholarship athletes (30:30 10ks as college sophomores) with a lot of their education paid for. At some schools the coaching is so well regarded that even high school studs go the juco route for their first two years. Last year a 400 world lead of 44.6 was set by a CA juco athlete.

Listen, I've been trolling these threads because I ran 9:35 in a state where 9:35 would rank you in the Top 5-10 in the state, or at least in the largest metropolitan area... not a state like California. So, I got to go to one of the largest DI public schools in the state for absolutely free because I was one of the best in the state (placed 2nd at state meet).

I truly do feel for the 9:20 kid from California or Texas that has no options, but in a state like mine, and like Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Kentucky, etc., you can run 9:30 and get a full ride. They're not getting out of state kids and they are offering the whole kitchen sink to local talent.

Best wishes.