"Closing the deal" on the scholarship offers?

Keep in mind that the school may value your daughter greatly but only have a certain amount of money that they are able to give. If you ask for more (which you are certainly within your rights to do) then you need to be prepared for the good chance that they don't/can't increase. I've been asked many many times by kids or parents to increase my offer to match that of another school. Most times when I am unable to do so, it is taken personally and as a sign that the other school wants the recruit more than I do. You have to be aware that there are many factors going into the decision on how much to offer and every dollar of scholarship does not necessarily equal a certain amount of "worth" that they place on your daughter.

Having said that, my advice is to be completely honest and open with the coach. Tell them it's down to two schools and you are weighing all factors for the decision. Tell them that school B has offered more money and that while it's not the sole deciding factor, it does have a big impact. Ask if there is any way for them to increase their offer. If they can't increase the offer and your daughter chooses the other school, they will think it is because of the money (whether that's the case or not).

Things are always tricky when dealing with scholarship offers. I prefer when my recruits and their parents are honest through the whole process.

C coach, thank you for the reply. More money would help but we certainly will not be offended. we realize school "b" may have greater needs in my daughters events or they may think they can sneak some extra academic aid in that school "a" can't. It's going to be my daughters decision and I know inside that it's gonna be school "a". We have a great relationship with the coaches so far and I never want to risk that over say another 10% increase. Something that over the long haul won't mean much. I just don't want to second guess myself later and say "why didn't you ask for more"?

send her where the guys are cute

It is always hard when dealing with money. It never hurts to ask for more as long as you know the answer maybe that they do not have more to give. After doing this for several years the best advice I can give is to try and take money out of the equation. I have watched several athletes choose a school based on a better scholarship offer and a year or two later they are either transferring or do not enjoy running anymore.

If your daughter has found a school that has a good team environment, good academic, and a coach that she likes; than that is probably worth the extra money. It is always hard to walk away from large scholarship offers, but it is also hard to put a price on a school that you love. Overall, this is aways a hard time for a high school senior, but if your daughter has found a school that stands out in her mind and your family can find a way to make it work then hopefully that is where she will choose to go. Good luck.

Old mother hubbard wrote:

She has a couple of full rides to some d1's and some partials to major bcs schools .

You do realize that BCS is a football term. So it doesnt matter if the school is BCS in football for your purposes, they either have a good XC/track team and coach or not

I agree with the other 2 coaches. I can remember the best advice I was given when I was 17 and choosing a college by one of my teachers. If your daughter answers yes to this question that is the place she should be...

"If you were injured and could never run again, would you still be happy at this school?"

Also, from a money stand point, if school 'a' offers you academic and athletic money and school 'b' can only offer athletic money, dont be offended if school 'a' offers less atheltic money. Look at the total dollar amount and don't feel that your daughter isn't as important based on athletic amount. When I recruit good students and can get them academic money I look at the total package I could give them with the combination.

3rd coach and another coach, yes the higher offer I believe has some academic aid with it, although he didn't come out in say it. On one of our first talks after seeing her transcripts he mentioned that she would qualify for academic aid. We'll just have to package the question as tactfully as possible, hope for the best and prepare for a "no", which we expect. Like you said earlier we certainly won't be offended, if anything were on cloud 9.

To another poster, yes I realize bcs has to do with football. I was just trying to say it was in a major conference.

This was an annoying post. BCS is also used to refer to conferences. I didnt need to reply to you but was just so annoyed for some reason I felt the need.

Prongs92 wrote:

Old mother hubbard wrote:

She has a couple of full rides to some d1's and some partials to major bcs schools .

You do realize that BCS is a football term. So it doesnt matter if the school is BCS in football for your purposes, they either have a good XC/track team and coach or not

I agree with all that has been written. Please allow me to pose a slightly different perspective.

It appears that money isn't an issue for your family. If it were, you would be taking the full rides. If that is the case, I think you are doing the right thing by weighing if you should ask for more money.

If you don't need the money, then why ask for more? Do you think they made an unfair offer? Do you think they are intentionally low balling you? Given the relationship you say you have, my guess is that your answer would be "no."

Here is the other side of the coin (no pun intended)to consider. Every dollar given to your daughter is a dollar that can't go to someone else. So while you can ask for more, and they could give more, then what does that leave for other recruits? (is giving more to your daughter worth losing out on someone else they want?) How will you asking change their perception of your family? (would they remove the original offer if you asked for more?) Will more money also bring with it more expectation on your daughter?

Scholarshipping is like dealing with a salary cap in professional sports. Getting the best talent for the best price is different from getting the best talent at any price. Good programs are good because they recruit well, they scholarship well and they develop well.

Sounds like you've found some good programs. Tread carefully.

4th coach (and all others), That is another valuable angle to look at it from. You are certainly correct about the money and full rides. It will hurt a lot to pay the remaining balance that the scholarship doesn't cover but we are looking long term. You are also correct about any increase to my daughter is less to some other athlete. I have lurked on here for a few months and while you can sometimes get silly responses you can also get some great different points of view. I believe I have gotten some great advice and scenarios to look over this month. Thank you to all.

If you can't ask the college coach for more money out of fear that he'll (or she'll) be offended, I wonder what the lines of communication are.

I've coached college for three decades. I'm not going to fall apart or be resentful if a parent asks for more than has been offered. I'll have to make some decisions, I'll have to do some explaining, but it comes with the territory.

I've seen kids have to leave college because of insufficient scholarship or financial aid. It's no fun. Figuring out the finances is an important part of the picture. Putting a student or a student's family in a situation they can't afford for 4 years is doing no one a favor.

Let me just say, if you don't ask, 90% of the time, the coach isn't going to offer.

Old mother hubbard wrote:

3rd coach and another coach, yes the higher offer I believe has some academic aid with it, although he didn't come out in say it. On one of our first talks after seeing her transcripts he mentioned that she would qualify for academic aid. We'll just have to package the question as tactfully as possible, hope for the best and prepare for a "no", which we expect. Like you said earlier we certainly won't be offended, if anything were on cloud 9.

To another poster, yes I realize bcs has to do with football. I was just trying to say it was in a major conference.

You deserve, and should have, everything in their offers in writing before you decide.

This includes academic aid, athletic aid, and potential loans available to you.