P5 schools NOT fully funded for mens track / XC

Why is it important to you if a program is fully funded?

I would not bother wasting time thinking about it. Look at their TFRRS and look at TFRRRs for their conference. They will be happy to pay you 10% for each point that you can score at the conference meet. They will likely pay a bit more to start as a freshman.

You sound like a parent who is way too involved. Yes, you should help your son with the recruiting process and help guide him through it similar to a GPS helping a driver get from point A to point B. But, you should let your son drive the car. Asking about which programs are fully funded is odd to me. Maybe you can expand on why that is important. I have never had a recruit ask me that question ..... they just want to know how much they are getting and what is the bottom line in terms of what they will be paying. Good luck

Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Utah, Northwestern, Clemson, West Virginia all don't have fully funded men's programs. Minnesota soon to join them.

Also not understanding why it is relevant if a school is fully funded or not? If the coach wants you, as he did me and my brother and sister, they will make school free. Don’t worry about “fully funded”.

Coaches and admin won't divulge this info, publicly, so hard to say for sure, but for the most part if a P5 sponsors mens outdoor track they have 12.6 in scholarships available.

A lot (but definitely not all) of G5s in MtnWest, SunBelt, CUSA and AAC that sponsor mens outdoor are fully funded.

UConn cancelled men's xc though they kept women's rowing which is just a pretend sport to satisfy title ix.

Full funding is only part of the equation. Given there are only 12.6 scholarships for a 50 person team, and limited coaching budget, every coach has to make the decision how to spend it. Most schools will put the majority of their funding into a discipline (sprinting / throwing / distance) and fill out the rest with walk-ons or very low scholarships. So, a fully funded P5 school that focuses on throws will be a worse fit and less money than a partially funded program that focuses on distance. (assuming your son is a distance runner). I would also consider looking at the makeup / age of the current team . Scholarships get recycled when the seniors graduate. So a team with a lot of kids graduating will have more $ available than a team that has it locked up in their younger grades. Granted, coaches can reinvest the graduating scholarships into existing kids or new kids, but the point is that a team graduating 0 kids will likely have $0. This was particular apparent last year when the entire NCAA got a Covid redshirt. Very few kids graduated which left last year's incoming freshman starved for $.

49ersFan wrote:

You sound like a parent who is way too involved. Yes, you should help your son with the recruiting process and help guide him through it similar to a GPS helping a driver get from point A to point B. But, you should let your son drive the car. Asking about which programs are fully funded is odd to me. Maybe you can expand on why that is important. I have never had a recruit ask me that question ..... they just want to know how much they are getting and what is the bottom line in terms of what they will be paying. Good luck

Way too involved from asking one question which will hopefully save time for both of us? Way too involved for trying to get a feel for the broad environment so I can provide some counsel should it be requested? Somewhat judgemental

What I am trying to weed out is unnecessary wasted time visiting programs which are less likely to have funds available. Do you let your recruits know before they visit you what they are likely to receive?

No you are not too involved. You are raising a 17 year old and you will pay the bills. But your logic is flawed. Whether a program is fully funded or not has very little impact on how much your son will receive. First, supply and demand has a way of leveling scholarships. Sure not entirely but to a greater extent than people realize. That means running a particular time will get you a scholarship in a range at most schools. Then think about Bradley which probably has only about 5 scholarships as opposed to Illinois which is fully funded. Run 4:12/9:05 and you will get a similar scholarship at both schools. And then there is the factor of how many scholarships are currently encumbered. Maybe a program has nobody graduating so they won't be doing much recruiting other than if some nice in-state walk-ons fall in their lap. Then there are the Ivies which have no scholarships at all. What are your son's times and what state is he considering? That information will get you some recommendations here.

Yes, my recruits know exactly what they will receive and be paying for school before they visit. As a matter of fact, I require them to answer YES to these 3 questions before I waste my time and their time on a visit.

1. With the aid the school is giving you, can you afford to attend this University?

2. Do we have an academic program you are interested in majoring in?

3. Would you be satisfied attending our university located in this state/city ( most of the recruits are out of town/state)

Good luck

I'd assume that there are marked differences between programs that are and are not fully funded, and hence, that it would make a marked difference to your son which kind of program he goes to. The one gets adequate administrative support, probably has a good travel budget--since they think track's important enough to fund--and the athletes have enough coaching, training, and meet opportunities to excel. They are on good, competitive teams with excellent, high quality teammates, and so the training atmosphere is better than the alternative. I'd also suggest looking at depth in their events and whether the team is competitive. Your son should speak to athletes on the teams he's interested in. And, of course, academics are key for the long-term.

I have been through this with many athletes and have never had a coach tell them what scholarship they should expect until the end of the visit.

- - I have been through this with many athletes and have never had a coach tell them what scholarship they should expect until the end of the visit.

You are correct. I was one of the very few that did this. I did not know any others that did. My time and the recruits time was too valuable not to do so. It worked really well for me doing it this way, others it may not. I guess it depends on what you are offering. If you are going to offer 75% scholarship or more, why would you not state this upfront. A low scholarship (25% or less) probably no reason to divulge that until after the visit

That logic sounds backward to me. Most kids who are getting offers of 10% or 20% will be insulted when you present that to them because they will have been state champ caliber kids who think they deserve large scholarships. And my experience is that a distance program will have about 25 kids visit about 4-5 at a time with the hope that they will secure 5 of them. so if you tell a bunch of kids what they will get before a visit and all of the kids take the offer, you will be over booked.

You make a lot of assumptions. Who is to say they are state champ kids and 4-5 kids on a visit never happened at my school. But, we were not D1. 100% of my recruits knew their amount regardless if it was 20% to 100%. That worked for me as there are many ways to get to the finish line. Good luck everyone

cnej wrote:

Also not understanding why it is relevant if a school is fully funded or not? If the coach wants you, as he did me and my brother and sister, they will make school free. Don’t worry about “fully funded”.

Will make school free? Get out of here. Even if they are fully funded for a guy it's highly unlikely to get everything covered.

I think you're fine to be involved, but as others have said if your intent is to ensure that they will provide you with some certain amount of a scholarship you're question of whether or not the program is fully funded isn't particularly relevant. If you don't want to "waste time" just let them know the first time you talk to them that getting a scholarship is your #1 priority and you aren't going to sing unless it's X%.

What are you talking about? I got 100% full scholarship. My junior and senior year I was 42-4 in XC and state runner-up over 3200m in track only losing to a legend. Some of you expect free hand-outs for running fast times. It's not about fast times, it's about winning. Wake up. If your "son" has never won races, invitationals, qualifiers... then you have no chance, sorry.

Get out of here wrote:

cnej wrote:

Also not understanding why it is relevant if a school is fully funded or not? If the coach wants you, as he did me and my brother and sister, they will make school free. Don’t worry about “fully funded”.

Will make school free? Get out of here. Even if they are fully funded for a guy it's highly unlikely to get everything covered.