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Post by ogre5530 on Feb 22, 2019 6:52:43 GMT -6
Maybe because 50-66% of those kids who go to D3 will be out of school in a year with a $25k loan they'll be paying off for the next 20 years? Or if they stay they'll be $100k in debt for a degree they won't likely use just so they can say they played college football? This is why I didn't play D3 football. I had my chances to play and visited multiple D3's, but at the end of the day I luckily was smart enough to pass on the 30K a year "offer" to play at a private D3. I went to state school and my loans were paid off before I hit 35! Congrats to those whom can afford it and want to play, but it just wasn't for me.
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Post by coachjm on Feb 23, 2019 6:53:06 GMT -6
I am a big fan of D3 Football....
My Father was a D3 Athletic Director, Football, and Baseball Coach the majority of his career (and during my entire youth). I played at a D2 school prior to transferring back to the D3 School he worked at, and I Interned at a top 10 power 5 school and turned down a GA opportunity to be an Offensive line coach at a D3 School... Here are my thoughts..
First all D3's are not the same in fact there is great variance from school to school. University of Chicago or even Kalamazoo college are not hunting to grow enrollment in fact highly selective schools like that often times have a small number of spots reserved for football players as often times the football players are selecting their school after they have filled their enrollment slots. There are D3's that are struggling to stay open and rely on their sports recruitment to serve as their admissions department to stay afloat. Many D3 schools have specific qouta's that they need to bring in by sport. The point being is Mount Union, Rose Holeman, Wabash, and all the Wisconsin public D3's are drastically different in how they approach recruiting and how football serves in the overall mission of the University.
Secondly, private school financial aid packages vary greatly, the "sticker price" of the college as little resemblance of what every kid is playing at a institution. A couple years ago we had a young man pay $3,500 a year to attend a $40K a year school with no loans, we have had other kids who are paying right around the same cost they would at one of the public schools after their financial aid packages came back (this includes loans) ultimately what people pay out of pocket and with loans is more directly correlated to the endowment of the University then the actual cost.
Thirdly, although D3s have a foundational belief (that I agree with) to not give scholarships athletics often does have some impact on the financial aid packages. To compete many schools have "leadership" scholarships or other items that the vast majority of recruited athletes get that traditional students may or may not. As a HS coach I always ask the University what is the average percentage of aid kids receive for the institution along with the overall cost. One school that was in this year stated their average student received 46% aide while the average football player received over 90% aid. No scholarships but nice financial packages for boys who chose to play footbal..
Finally,the benefits our young people have playing D3 football is often rooted in what the article states many students play thinking they want to be "big time" and play college football, they enter a new world where they learn new things about other opportunities in life and eventually earn a degree that propels them in life. In addition to that they gain an entire network of hard working men most of which will be successful in life that they will call teammates forever. This network is a huge benefit for anyone who ever played four years of college football....
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Post by mountainman on Feb 25, 2019 2:22:04 GMT -6
This whole “signing day” thing just baffles me to begin with. I remember signing my letter. My mom told me I had something me mail, I opened it, signed it on my kitchen counter, put it in a return envelope, mailed it and went about my day. Now this was track and field, not football, but I got school paid for and went on to be an All-American.
We have a mom who is working a 3rd and 4th job to pay for her sons D3 “scholarship”. When she called me up to ask when our signing day celebration was I had to stifle a laugh. The kid was a 2.1 GPA who didn’t even start for us until his senior year where we were going through a major rebuilding process on a team that went 7-4 and lost in the first round. I honestly think that he is there just so they can say he is playing college ball. I don’t feel there is any way he graduates, but will definitely rack up $100K in debt. It is actually sad.
Now I have a daughter that is a junior at the same university I attended. She was a 4.0, High ACT type kid. She also played 3 sports as well as playing in the band and singing in the choir. She is receiving more scholarship money for academics than I ever received for athletics and will graduate next year completely debt free. My advice has always been to focus on academics and the number of doors that open will be much greater. Even if you want to do athletics in college.
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