I raised this point on the Back of THE NET, and I will raise it here.
The poster above has touched on a point referencing Football and Basketball.
From the college and university point of view, neither lacrosse or soccer are revenue producers.
Duke has been mentioned here often. Agreed that Duke is a great school with an alumni and networking second to none. They make their money with their basketball program, as does most schools. USC and others make a ton of money from football. The common denomination between these two sports vs. Lax, soccer, track, etc., is corporate sponsorships and TV revenue.
USC gets 14+ million if they make the Rose Bowl for just TV rights. Other bowl games and Saturday College Football put some serious coin into a school's treasury. The Final Four the same. Add all the merchandising and other income streams and it's no wonder that the Northwestern University Football Team wants to be considered employees and share in the profits they generate.
The scholarships are out there, but academic scholarships are plentiful and easier to obtain.
I told my two girls to make sure they did a killer essay when handing in their applications. I would suggest the same to your child.
Father of Northwestern University, 2003 & Duke University, 2006 graduates.
