NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Dear Coach Taylor,

I have set up a few unofficial visits for the coming months, can I be recruited on these trips?

Highlight tape is crucial to the recruiting process. Due to a lack of funding for college programs athletic departments college coaches now use highlight tape to  make initial evaluations of student athletes before making the commitment to see them play in person. Below 30 year college coach veteran Randy Taylor talks about highlight tapes in the recruiting process.

Navigating the recruiting process can be difficult for  student athletes, coaches and especially for parents. It is hard for parents to know when to help their student athlete and when to take a step back. 30 year college coaching veteran Bob Chmiel mentions some key points for parents to remember below.

Parents Golden Rules Part 1

Rule #1: Don’t Be a Helicopter Parent

• A helicopter parent hovers over their child, not allowing him/her to grow or act for herself
• A WE parent lives vicariously through their child’s accomplishments
• Remember: during the recruiting process, let the student athlete become the team captain
• A parent’s first response is always to jump in and rescue their child when they are struggling but this is a great time for your student athlete to learn how to be independent and responsible
• Just try to remember that a coach wants to hear from the person they are putting the investment in, which is not the parent in this situation.

Rule #2: Teach Humility

• Young athletes who are talented can sometime receive too much support and praise, and develop attitude problems and less motivation
• Teach your athlete to be humble and gracious, to work hard academically and athletically
• Parents are primarily responsible for their children’s attitude, teach your athlete they have to earn everything they receive
• Teach your student athlete to be accountable for their actions, NCSA suggests a three part ACE formula
• A- Academics: Remember that college coaches will not recruit a student athlete who cannot compete in the classroom. Academic performance tells a coach a lot about a child’s ability to manage time, set goals, and prioritize
• C-Character: Character is a big part of a sport. No coach wants to work with a sore loser or and ungracious winner. Remember that you can tell a lot about a child’s character by the company he keeps. Parents need to make sure their children know how to make good decisions and are accountable for the actions they take
• E-Effort: Effort and work ethic are a big part of children’s ability to be successful student-athletes. Won or lose, a coach wants to know that student-athletes did their best not only athletically, but also academically. So as long as a student makes his best effort with every play and in every classroom on every homework assignment and in every practice, a coach will see that the athlete is a class act.

Parents this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for your athlete! Make sure to stay tuned for part 2 and part 3 of the parents golden rules in recruiting.

Dear Coach Taylor,

How binding is a verbal commitment from a student athlete? Can an athlete back out of a commitment?

Dear Coach Taylor,

How should I approach coaches when I am at their camp? Should I introduce myself?

Dear Coach Taylor,

Should I be a walk on or accept a scholarship at another school?

Dear Coach Taylor,

I have been offered a scholarship to a great school and accepted.I still have a year until I sign my NLI, how binding is a verbal offer from a college coach?

Dear Coach Taylor,

I have been offered a scholarship as a junior, the coach is pushing me to commit but I am not sure I am ready. How long do I have to accept a scholarship once it has been offered?

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA ) can be a confusing topics for many families and student athletes. Filling out your FAFSA can mean the difference between thousands of dollars in financial aid and no scholarship money!  Below is a break down of FAFSA as well as some upcoming changes to the FAFSA.

Here’s an overview of the changes that could impact your financial aid for the upcoming academic year and in the future.

Here’s an overview of the changes that could impact your financial aid for the upcoming academic year and in the future.

Eligibility of Students Without a High School Diploma

If you are enrolling in higher education for the first time on or after July 1, 2012, in order to be eligible for federal student aid, you must have either a high school diploma or a recognized equivalent (such as a General Educational Development certificate (GED) or have been home schooled).

• You will no longer have the option of becoming eligible for federal student aid by passing an approved test or completing at least six credit hours or 225 clock hours of postsecondary education.

One change is that for the 2012-13 school year, you will automatically qualify for an Expected Family Contribution of zero if your family income does not exceed $23,000. This is a reduction from the previous maximum income of $32,000.

Expected Family Contribution
The lower a student’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC), the higher the student’s federal student aid eligibility. A change has been made to the income amount that is used to determine if a student qualifies for an automatic EFC of zero.

• When you complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), you receive an Expected Family Contribution, which is a number used to determine your federal student aid eligibility. For the 2012-13 school year, you will automatically qualify for an Expected Family Contribution of zero if your family income does not exceed $23,000. This is a reduction from the previous maximum income of $32,000.

Federal Pell Grant Program — Duration of Eligibility

Once you have received a Pell Grant for 12 semesters, or the equivalent, you will no longer be eligible for additional Pell Grants.

• You are eligible to receive a Pell Grant for up to 12 semesters or the equivalent. If you have exceeded the 12-semester maximum, you will lose eligibility for additional Pell Grants beginning in 2012-13 school year. Equivalency is calculated by adding together the percentage of your Pell eligibility that you received each year to determine whether the total amount exceeds 600%.

• For example, if your maximum Pell Grant award amount for the 2010-2011 school year was $5,550, but you only receive $2,775 because you were only enrolled for one semester, you would have used 50% of your maximum award for that year. If in the following school year, you were enrolled only three-quarter time, you would have used 75% of your maximum award for that year. Together, you would have received 125% out of the total 600% lifetime limit.

Direct Student Loan Changes
Direct Subsidized loans will not be eligible for an interest subsidy during the six-month grace period.

• Subsidized loans are loans for which the borrower is not responsible for the interest while the student is enrolled in college on at least a half-time basis, when the loan is in the six-month grace period after the student is no longer enrolled at least half time, or if the loan is in a deferment status. This provision eliminates the interest subsidy provided during the six-month grace period for subsidized loans for which the first disbursement is made on or after July 1, 2012, and before July 1, 2014. If you receive a subsidized loan during this timeframe, you will be responsible for the interest that accrues while your loan is in the grace period. You do not have to make payments during the grace period (unless you choose to) but the interest will be added (capitalized) to the principal amount of your loan when the grace period ends. This provision does not eliminate the interest subsidy while the borrower is in school or during eligible periods of deferment.

All subsidized loans made to undergraduate students will have a fixed interest rate of 6.8%.

• Subsidized loans for which the first disbursement is on or after July 1, 2012, will have a 6.8% fixed interest rate. Note: In the President’s FY2013 budget request, the Administration has proposed maintaining the interest rate on subsidized loans at the current rate of 3.4% for the 2012-2013 school year.

Graduate and professional students are no longer eligible to receive subsidized loans.

• Effective for loans made for payment periods that begin on or after July 1, 2012, graduate and professional students are no longer eligible to receive subsidized loans. However, if you are a graduate or professional student, you may still qualify for up to $20,500 in unsubsidized loans each year.

The U.S. Department of Education can no longer offer borrowers repayment incentives.

• Effective for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2012, the Department of Education is prohibited from offering any repayment incentives to Direct Loan borrowers, except interest rate reductions to borrowers who agree to have payments automatically electronically debited from their bank account).

If you have any questions about how these changes could impact you, please contact the financial aid administrator at your school or call 1-800-4-FED-AID.

I am going to address one of the most frustrating challenges in recruiting for athletes and their parents. It is the frequent case of a high school athlete being very good but not being recruited by Division I programs because they do not meet the physical ‘measureables’ of many DI programs.

This is the time of the year of the NFL Draft. Kellen Moore of Boise State is facing this challenge at the pro level. Despite being college football’s winningest quarterback after guiding Boise State to a 50-3 record, he is not expected to be drafted until deep into the Draft. I mean, this was a guy that was 4th in the Heisman race as a senior.

However, the stark reality is Moore is six feet tall.

As the parent of a NCAA athlete, Professional Speaker Charlie Adams often helps families understand how to find the right fit for their child at the next level

USA Today has a very good article on him this week that addresses why undersized players like Moore are not recruited hard by DIs and often face the same challenge in the pro ranks. Moore threw 142 TD passes at Boise State, which is the second most ever. He had the lowest interception rate in NCAA history. He was fifth all-time in passing yards at just under 15,000!

But he is six…  feet … tall.

Like many of you, he was not recruited much by anyone out of high school in Washington state. USA Today writes that only Boise State, Eastern Washington and Idaho offered him scholarships. This was after he set state records with 787 completions and led his Prosser High teams to a 36-3 record. The Gatorade Player of the Year in Washington hardly got a sniff in recruiting from the big programs.

In the article, his Dad shares a theory why DI college coaches and Pro Scouts often don’t offer that All Conference kid who doesn’t meet their criteria when it comes to height or speed or vertical jump.

“Let’s face it,” Tom Moore told USA Today. “The number one job of a Scout is to keep your job so that you can feed your wife and kids. If you pick a 6-5 quarterback and you make a mistake you probably won’t get fired. If you take a chance on a 6-foot quarterback, you’re taking much more of a risk.”

Boise State coach Chris Petersen brings up a similar point. “Pro scouts come in here and they love him as much as anyone. They say, ‘He’s an unbelievable player, but we’re not sure the powers that be will go for him because he’s 6 feet.’ ”