Friday, October 22, 2010

Tip of the Day #10

Understand that athletic scholarships are renewable one-year contracts, not four-year contracts. The rules about when a coach can choose not to renew a scholarship are pretty clear, and the good news is that they can't take away your scholarship because they're disappointed in the way you're playing. But they can revoke your scholarship if you're not meeting academic standards or if you get caught violating a school or athletic program rule. And even though they can't revoke your scholarship without just cause, they can strongly encourage you to leave by never playing you and generally making your life miserable. So keep your nose clean and your attitude positive.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Tip of the Day #9

Athletic scholarships require you to be an active member of a team but merit scholarships do not, so think your decision through carefully if you have separate offers of both.

It's the rare athlete who is in this fortunate position but if you're one of them, consider your options very carefully. Everyone who goes through college recruiting hopes to be able to brag about the athletic scholarship offers they receive but there is a downside. There are a million reasons college athletes decide to give up their sport in college. What if you decide you just don't want to compete anymore, if you get seriously injured, if you're not getting the playing time you thought you would, if you hate the coach, if there are just other things you want to concentrate on more. Quit the team, lose your scholarship. It's that simple. There are lots of unhappy and unmotivated juniors and seniors who don't want to compete anymore but can't quit their teams because they would lose their scholarships.

If you have an offer of a merit scholarship, and you decide to leave the team for some reason, you keep the scholarship and finish your education on your own time. Pretty attractive deal if you can get it.