Parents expecting me to obtain a full track scholarship

My parents are a fickle mess and say and think some pretty outrageous things. For instance, 25-30 years ago, the daughter of the people who I grew up across the street from "worked her way through college" at the cafeteria commons at her university. This was a much "lesser" university than the ones I have gotten into to start off. Secondly, all sorts of research concludes that this is otherwise infeasible in the present day but that doesn't stop them from shooting off their mouths and holding me to this ridiculous standard. The hardest part is communicating with them and most of the time these conversation attempts devolve into petty arguments with said standards above used to justify their claims. Again, very difficult to communicate effectively. It was even pretty difficult getting them to fill out the FAFSA forms as my mom stated "it's none of their business" and "the government should be providing you with a college education". Which is counter intuitive compared to her voting history. I feel like I am going to get screwed over here and not get much aid which will cause even more arguments. Realistically, my savings will get eaten up in less than a year. I wish I didn't have to live in the dorms to be honest and just move into an apartment.

Oh you can be as blunt as you'd like. My point is clearly stated in follow up posts that I don't think I am physically talented enough to obtain a scholarship. My parents have seen me win a number of local races but they have no clue what is going on. They are the dumb parents that talk to my coach about scholarships and we both roll our eyes. I understand the "old guy attitude" but realistically I don't even know if I want to try to run for a D1 college team. It is a huge commitment and again I am not sure I have the physical tools to succeed at that level. I have no issues getting a part time job or something but I know my parents and where their expectations and demands are headed.

If you are a junior, the easy answer is to get an even higher ACT. Study hard and get a 35. Keep taking it until next October before you apply to schools. This will get you into the pile where they will actually consider you for Ivy League. You probably aren't a special snowflake who opened orphanages in Haiti so odds are very low you will get in, but at least it gets you in the pool of candidates. At 93k you would probably get full need based aid. You may or may not be competitive to run with those times but that won't matter because you won the academic lottery.

Backup plan is to go to the place where is best academically for your future that you can afford. That might be instate B1G. I know at Ohio State that ACT will get you $5k per year on academics alone plus you will probably get need based aid too.

hs kid wrote: It is a huge commitment and again I am not sure I have the physical tools to succeed at that level. I have no issues getting a part time job or something but I know my parents and where their expectations and demands are headed.

I do have this encouragement to offer: If you enjoy the sport enough to make the commitment, your times are a good indicator that you could develop to a level that you may not currently realize. As I mentioned, I went to a DI mid-major university, and it has a history of taking average talent and developing it. (Lots of mid-majors, DII and DIII programs do this.) I have seen kids with slower HS times than yours improve their times to 4:05, sub 8:15 3K, low 14 5K, and high 29 10K. In a mid-major conference, that's not too shabby and probably worth a half-ride.

It's up to you.

As for your parents, if they aren't paying for anything then who gives a rat's a$$ what they think. If they don't have any skin in the game, they're pretty much voiding their right to have any expectations.

With those marks and grades you have plenty of options. Unless you are a late-bloomer or seriously under trained to run those times, D-3 would be a great option for you. You would be competitive in your conference very quickly. For D-1 the likelihood of athletic $$ is slim. But, the Ivies and Stanford have GENEROUS financial aide for students/families in your income bracket. Many options.....

Sorry to hear this and I get the communications problems, again, having been in a similar situation. Your best bet, since applications are already in, is to not to talk anymore until financial aid packages come back (you could even perhaps let your parents know that this is your intended plan).

It's true that it's unrealistic to pay your way through a top-notch college, but as long as you really did apply to the best schools that you could get into, you should be fine on financials. If you applied to schools a bit below your level, e.g. where the median ACT score is 30 or lower, then the packages may not be as generous (it will be highly variable). With respect to a track scholarship, your best case scenario is that you get totally ignored. The reason for this is that you absolutely do not want "free money" in your financial aid package getting replaced by scholarship money. If you get injured, there goes the scholarship money (unless you want to sit on a bench at practice every day for 2 hours). Not so with other parts of the financial aid package.

Regarding your own $, colleges will expect 1/3 per year. Before you fill out next year's financial aid package, take your remaining ~$6k out of the bank and put it in a safe deposit box that only you can access. Take a bit out each semester for your life expenses. This is exactly what I did, and it helped preserve much needed cash.

Also, when the school gives you a form to fill out about expenses (textbooks, etc.), don't lowball your estimate like many middle-income/low-income people tend to do. By the end, I was pretty good at maxing out financial aid, and, once or twice, even managed net positive cash in financial aid (I got paid, rather than paying).

An 32 ACT would get you a lot of academic money at Ole Miss and you could possibly walk on

I had similar times as a high school senior. The state school I went to wouldn't guarantee me walk on spot, let alone a scholarship. I could've gotten partial track scholarship at some smaller schools with lesser education and track programs. I ended up walking on at the state school and was able to get academic scholarships covering ~50% tuition but had college savings to pay the rest.

Given your families combined and lack of savings, I assume you might qualify for some amount of financial aid.

I teach high school (including ACT/SAT prep classes). With that GPAs and ACT score you could be looking at something close to a full ride at a lot of different schools. Does your junior year PSAT score put you in the running for national merit semifinalist? That would help too.

You have to think about what you want out of college. If you want a big school experience, there are going to be places you can go and get very nice academic scholarships. I'm from the south so I don't know too much about the Big 10 schools, but places like LSU, Ole Miss, Alabama etc. would probably give you quite a bit of money. But the odds of athletic scholarship money are going to be pretty slim at a big DI school. So you could go the D2/NAIA route, or look for D3 schools that could give you a nice financial aid package to go along with any academic scholarships they can give you.

Also, ignore the old farts who are telling you it's easy to work your way through school. Tuition prices have skyrocketed compared to 40 years ago.

Given your family's financial situation, I recommend figuring out what sort of school you want to go to and then looking for a school of that type that will be able to give you a full ride or very close to it. While you may not get a ton of athletic money, your times could probably help you get admitted at some very good schools if you want to go that route. And between your test scores and your family's situation, you should be able to do very well for yourself.

Know someone who Junior Year PRs were:

2:02

4:23

9:26

Ran 15:12 in XC, Made it to Footlocker, finished 35th

Times not too far off this kid. Went to B1G, started around 60% ended up over 90% and set a few school records. Yes he's not going to get recruited by the top teams but he might have some D1 options.

You need to retake the ACT/take SAT to get above 1450 at the very least. This is not a troll and probably the best advice you will get for scholarship pursuit.

Sprinter Type wrote:

You need to retake the ACT/take SAT to get above 1450 at the very least. This is not a troll and probably the best advice you will get for scholarship pursuit.

OXYRUNR wrote:

Unless you are a late-bloomer or seriously under trained to run those times, D-3 would be a great option for you.

I have visited one D3 school and it was my backup plan in the event I didn't get into any of the more prestigious B1G schools. I got into all of them.

This is a no brainer to me,

Take a look at the US Air Force Academy. Tuition free, full ride, elite school with a beautiful campus. Yes it is a military academy, but there are so many benefits that come with it. Also, Coach Cole is doing a remarkable job with the distance runners there. They are quickly becoming an elite d1 program. The culture there is great and you will quickly become a better man due to the school's challenges.

I was offered 60% at a tiny NAIA Christian school when i was 20.. and I couldnt break 17:00 at the time. Didnt do it , probably should have

I suggest looking at some of the Ivy league schools, if this has not already been suggested. Maybe a coach at one would support your application and they give need based financial aid, so can cover people who are not their top recruits. The university's online financial aid calculators might show you getting a big grant with the remainder qualifying for work based aid.

Good luck.

If you are completely on your own, an in state public school is your friend. Depending on what state you live in, this could be a B1G school. This will significantly cut the cost, and you may also get some academic merit scholarships, if not some athletic money. Does your high school offer any scholarships? Mine did, some for athletics through money the department raised. Others were from organizations throughout my town. With your grades and athletic ability, these may be well within reach. The ones that my school offered were not very large, probably on average $1,000-$2,000, but that's a good start, especially if you can get a few of them.

Have your hs coach talk to your parents about your realistic prospects for an athletic scholarship.

If you are on your own to finance your college education, there have been some good ideas here. There should be a counselor at your high school to help with identifying financial aid (in addition the schools you are applying to).

The service academies are very competitive with admissions, and you might have better options with a ROTC program.

Look into a community college with a XC/track program for the first two years and then transfer to a 4-year school as a junior.

It definitely happens I ran 10:40 and 17:15 in hs ran NAIA and never paid a dollar. Graduated high school with a 3.1 and 27 ACT. Look at D2's and NAIA's in the south/southeast and even northeast and they'll pay you for 17:00 or sub 11 some for even slower (any of the Kentucky NAIA's).