Scholarship timing

Your first three are accurate. The fourth category and third are the same. I estimate that 1/2 of of athletes are on no scholarship. But there is no guarantee. Most people don't seem to realize that this happens frequently. Athletes disappear due to quitting for various reasons and due to coaches cutting them or more likely just ignoring them and not allowing them to travel which eventually causes them to quit.

Incorrect. The NCAA prohibits the athlete from signing anything except for a scholarship. They do allow D3 schools to have kids sign a ceremonial paper though. Coaches don't recruit kids with the intent of cutting them but when a P5 program brings in 8 distance runners which balloons the roster to more than 20, many of those guys will disappear after a year when they realize that they only get to run one crappy home meet.

financial $ wrote:

Your first three are accurate. The fourth category and third are the same. I estimate that 1/2 of of athletes are on no scholarship. But there is no guarantee. Most people don't seem to realize that this happens frequently. Athletes disappear due to quitting for various reasons and due to coaches cutting them or more likely just ignoring them and not allowing them to travel which eventually causes them to quit.

ok, that's what i thought. So there are a decent number of athletes on the roster with no scholarship. Many will eventually drop off but some are legitimately expected to "contribute" at meets either right away or at some point. I'm guessing if they do start contributing they may be given some scholarship money. So someone who isn't in a blue chipper but who is being told they should be able to contribute freshman or sophomore year will most likely fall in either category 2 or 3. Either offered some scholarship funds right away or at some point down the line if they pan out as expected. Correct?

Doubtful. Coaches have 12.6 scholarships to fund a 55 person track team. If you hand some of those scholarships to existing guys, you can't do high level recruiting. Few guys are going to transfer after spending two years at a school and getting to a level where they think they deserve a small scholarship because no other school is going to offer a small scholarship to a guy with limited eligibility unless they are a high level contributor.

financial $ wrote:

Doubtful. Coaches have 12.6 scholarships to fund a 55 person track team. If you hand some of those scholarships to existing guys, you can't do high level recruiting. Few guys are going to transfer after spending two years at a school and getting to a level where they think they deserve a small scholarship because no other school is going to offer a small scholarship to a guy with limited eligibility unless they are a high level contributor.

So if you are going on official visits and expected to contribute you should most likely expect some sort of scholarship but it’s not out of the question for it to be minimal. How many of the 12.6 are normally used on blue chips and are the rest normally spread somewhat evenly across those expected to contribute?

when wrote:

[quote]shipscholar wrote:

Have you hard of an offer that starts at no money but increases if you hit certain times during your senior year?

My daughter had a coach actually do this. She was track, not distance, and he offered a scholarship of X and said it would increase to Y for certain marks, or a state championship in her 2-3 events. Seemed very odd to us and she chose a different school. It was a D1 school in a G5 conference.

I think the big thing to keep in mind is what an earlier poster said. There are 12.6 scholarships available. That means that on average each kid on a track team is getting 25%. But, of course, the very best kids may be getting half or full rides which means everyone gets less. It's very difficult to get $ in track unless you are super elite.

Also, the cost of the school is such a huge factor that it's easy to get caught up in the offer amount not the final amount. Half scholarship at an Ivy league will still end up costing more than 0 scholarships at most P5s.

over-the-hill wrote:

I think the big thing to keep in mind is what an earlier poster said. There are 12.6 scholarships available. That means that on average each kid on a track team is getting 25%. But, of course, the very best kids may be getting half or full rides which means everyone gets less. It's very difficult to get $ in track unless you are super elite.

Also, the cost of the school is such a huge factor that it's easy to get caught up in the offer amount not the final amount. Half scholarship at an Ivy league will still end up costing more than 0 scholarships at most P5s.

very good point. You can't be more excited about getting $5-10k from one school that is $25k more than another school offering you no money....all other things being equal.

Ivies don't give scholarships for athletics or academics. Their price is 100% need based.