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QUESTION
My son verbally committed to a D1 school for baseball and has been accepted and offered a 50% academic scholarship as well. We asked the coach about scholarship money that might be available and he said that some money might free up if a player or 2 get drafted. What do you think his chances are for receiving scholarship money?

ANSWER
This is a common scenario where a coach does not have any money available in year one to give to incoming players on the team because the scholarship money the coach has allotted has either been used on other incoming recruits or current members on the team. Baseball has two problems. One, it virtually generates no money unless it's a big-time program (think Texas, LSU, Rice) and two, the scholarship allotment of 11.7 for a team of 30+ players comes nowhere close to being able to give every player on the team a significant scholarship package. There are over 300 NCAA schools at the D1 level and I would highly doubt that more than 60 have a fully funded baseball program. In many cases, some D1 teams might be operating with 2, 3, or 4 scholarships for the entire team if they are that lucky. Dividing up 3 scholarships to 30 playes might net each player a few thousand dollars.

As far as your chances go for receiving money, that's really a question only the coach can answer. The school (not named) is switching conferences to a bigger conference so the school may give the coach more scholarship dollars to increase the exposure of the team in the near future. The coach may also say that you are getting a 50% aid package (nearly $15,000) and determine that there are other players that could use the scholarship money more than you. The coach is obviously under no obligation to give you money the following year, even if he has money to give, and him saying there may be money available doesn't mean much. There are many coaches who will reward players in year two, three, and four with scholarship money once it becomes available, but each situation is unique. It could also depend on your skill and level of play. If the coach determines your skills do not warrant any additional money after a year or two, they will simply use it on new recruits.


 
 
 
 
 
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