Coaching at a College that may or may not be embezzling

Full scholarship includes books, fees, room, board. Have these been included in your cost of attendance figure ($10k in your post)?

From my experience, what they are doing is correct or similar to what has been done at the 2 Universities I coached at (non D1) our students had a total aid package that could not exceed tuition, room, meal plan and books. First the university exhausted all outside aid (FAFSA etc) then used the institutional aid (athletic+academic) not to exceed a full ride. This did not happen too frequently at my university but it put coaches in a difficult position to explain why we offered a scholarship of let’s say 8,000.00 and the athlete signed for 8,000.00 then when they see their breakdown sent to them from financial aid (athletic scholarship reads 4,000.00 not 8K) they get upset. That is why I always explained to the athlete-parents that all the aid they receive cannot exceed _______ dollars and if it does, your athletic scholarship would be reduced to the amount to cover a full ride and it would be indicated by the financial letter you receive from our financial aid department.

The good thing for the coaches is you have extra dollars to spend on other athletes. the tricky part can be if the athlete above loses his/her academic scholarship for their 2nd year they will come back to you and want that athletic money back to make up for the lost academic scholarship

FYI - As a coach the best trait you can have within your team is trust. When an athlete starts thinking you or the university is messing with their money that trust can be on thin ice - as a coach you can eliminate a lot of potential problems if you know the scholarship policy at your university inside and out. I would strongly recommend having a meeting with the athletic personnel at your school to go over their policy (varies from university) and also meeting with the financial aid director as well -

Each institution is different. But most non power 5s are not trying to give kids checks in addition to full scholarships. It is common practice to use all forms of aid to get a kid to full.

the good news for you is that you should have $3000 in additional scholarship dollars to spend on someone else.

lastly, don't over promise, especially if you don't understand how the schools financial aid policies work. If you let the kid think he is pocketing $3k, and the school doesn't allow that in their policy, he will be pissed AT YOU.

parents will "discuss litigation" if they are either misled or uninformed.

Who gave them the idea they would be receiving cash back?

If they didn't check the financial aid policies, that is on them.

If you gave them bad info, then that is on you.

They chose to attend there and you chose to work there.

I got screwed last minute this year with a policy like this. I was supposed to get a $2000 refund check from my school and was expecting it all summer so I didn’t bother getting a summer job because I thought my school was going to pay for my extra expenses like gas, eating out, toiletries, etc.. Then, the day before I’m supposed to report to campus to start practice, I check my student portal and I suddenly owe the school $700 instead of getting a refund check for $2000. Keep in mind that I had checked this student portal multiple times earlier in the week. I was almost not able to go to school this year because of this. I would understand if they acted on their policy earlier but the fact that they revoked one of my scholarships last minute because the total added up too high was really inconvenient and kinda screwed me over. I’m hoping to run fast enough so I can get a full athletic next year and not have to worry about grants or academic aid, because my school revoked half a grant but apparently they can’t touch athletic aid.

I know of an NAIA School which changed their policy to this model. Previously, overage was awarded to the student - athlete which allowed for their renting of apartment instead of dorms, food, etc. School admin changed this policy, which impacted XC, TF as their athletic scholarships did not afford housing consideration. Team members were pooling their excess award for apartment rentals close to campus. For some reason only xc and tf was impacted. Basketball, baseball, not at all. Uni was also adding a football program in the last two years. Raises questions as to this sudden change.

You didn't get screwed. You just didn't know the policy. Your "portal" is updated by humans whenever they get around to it. There may be a time that the portal charges you for next semester before entering your scholarship aid. In that case it will say you owe more than you actually will. So, in that case, is the school getting screwed that you didn't pay the larger balance on that day?

Bottom line, know the policies of the institution you attend or work for.

I have no idea if what your university is doing is legal or not, but you are right to be suspicious. I'm a professor, not a coach, and some of the things I see from university administration seem hard to believe such as research expenditures going up EVERY year. I think there is a lot of creative accounting going on and there is no oversight or transparency so they know they will never get caught. If you start asking inconvenient questions you should be prepared for retaliation.

honestly this seems like a good policy... It does not seem like your aid $$ whether it be from athletic, need based, or academic should allow you to make a profit.

I have a hard time feeling bad for the athlete who gets less athletic aid but it gets made up somewhere else.why should the athlete care as long as everything is paid for?

This perspective from a dad who will has a child just beginning to navigate Div 1 recruiting.

another question.. How does it work if an athlete is getting a scholarship that includes $$ for room and board but the athlete moves off campus? Does the institution give the athlete the $$ it would cost for room and board and then the athlete uses that as they would like for housing and food?? Can an athlete "pocket" extra $$ here?? Does it vary by instituton?

again, depends on the school.....some school pay the cash equivalent of room and board and then the kid can do what they want with it. other universities will not write checks and you either live on campus on scholarship, or pay for yourself to live off campus.

every school has their own policy, make no assumptions.

A similar thing happened to me, only I’m the athlete. I signed for X amount, but because the financial aid office applied the “loans” (that I eligible for but NOT using - I pay out of pocket) before they applied the athletic scholarship, they reduced my athletic scholarship by 25%.

It was absolute BS and I sent several scathing emails to the Financial Aid department but they were uncooperative.

Sounds fine... Most schools make athletes have apply for FAFSA and a “full scholarship” will cover everything else. The kid can problem pocket the community scholarship though since the college may not even know about it and the community one usually just had the kid a check.

What you should be annoyed about is if they only give John 2k and “charge” you 5k toward your scholarship limit.

Berkeley College?

Remove coaching at a college from your statement and it is totally true. College embezzle money. Straight up.

The Pell grant (which is need-based) was probably awarded before the athletic scholarship was applied. When the $5K athletic was added, the total award went over the total cost. it makes sense that the school would want to use the federal money rather than their own. The coach should be happy that he has an extra $3000 to award to another recruit.

If the surplus does not surpass 5k as per your example then there is no embezzlement here considering the 5k amount was a grant / aid promise from the college itself.

I am sure in the 5k contract there is a clause that identifies if a surplus from other grants exceeds the college costs, then the 5k amount will be reduced accordingly. Look at the fine print because I am sure it is there.

So greasy yes, illegal no.

I don't get how its "greasy". If the kid still gets the full scholarship amount... why do people care where the $$ comes from?