Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
The reality is that most "scholarships" are a package of funding sources. Need based aid, plus merit aid, plus athletic with the latter typically representing the smallest funding stream of the three.

However, since there seems to be a certain status associated with athletic scholarships that tends to be what Mom and Dad focus on when regaling their friends and family with their stories from the recruiting wars.

I especially love it when I hear that a kid is going to Penn or Harvard on a full scholarship. Really? Since the Ivies offer no merit aid and no athletic aid these must be particularly needy folk or well, you do the math.

Here is a winning formula IMO. Have your kid spend 2 hours engaged in extra academic enrichment or community service for every one hour they spend in lacrosse. If you do that for 12 or 13 years scoring a 15-25% athletic scholarship can hopefully be paired with another 25% of merit aid. Toss in whatever other private scholarships and need-based aid you can score and you can realistically look to score a substantial discount off that 60K a year price tag that many outstanding schools are advertising as their retail cost.

This strategy will not work at the Ivies or the large public universities all of whom either offer no merit money or precious little.

Of course there are the service academies where everybody gets a "full scholarship" and guaranteed job placement to boot.

Have fun!


I have never heard any parent of a child headed to Penn or Harvard say their kid is getting a full scholarship. I know many parents who have turned down significant scholarships from other schools and instead sent their child to Penn and Harvard.



Correct. Agreed. For the poster initially quoted. Ivies only offer merit money or merit scholarships. They offer no athletic scholarships, and merit money is based on a formula independent of athletics or academics. What lacrosse can gain you is preferred admission to a schools with single digit acceptance rates, for which some parents would sacrifice a limb to get their child accepted at.