College coaches have suggested boarding schools for kids since I was one in the 1980s. The old favorites were Avon and Salisbury. Deerfield was the more academic elite one then, and was usually ice hockey players or football players steering toward Ivies. A lot has changed. Now you have Andover, Exeter, Deerfield and Loomis all throwing academics out the window for the PG money train. That isn't too popular among some alums, myself included, but these schools are organisms that fuel on revenue models. What college coaches suggest to parents and what parents then pursue can get pretty involved at every level. I am well informed that Davis at Deerfield talks to college coaches often about recruits wanting or needing a PG year in the same instances he is talking about his players being recruited.
In a well meaning way what I am stating is that the notion that boarding schools for PG year are an oasis for the athletically gifted to cash in athletic scholarships is very misguided. Many of these schools have impressive endowments and can provide generous need based packages, and financial discounts are limited to these.
