Getting the Student Athlete to the Right College

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Getting the Student Athlete to the Right College

• Black Hills Athletic Department
• Presenter
• Cross Country Coach
• George Zelenak

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Why Participate in College

• Personal
• Financial (for some)
• Academic

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Why Participate in College Personal

• Enjoyment
• Challenge
• Friendships / belonging
• Directed activity

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Why Participate in College Financial

• A few will get scholarships (dont kid your self
  on this one 10 academic scholarships are
  awarded for every athletic scholarship Focus on
  grades and the SAT.)
• Employers like these graduates! Especially when
  combined with a good GPA!

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Why Participate in College Academic

• Higher Graduation Rates
• NCAA D1 Graduation Success Rate at 77 compared
  to 61 for non athletes. (the GSR uses a 6 year
  cut off and includes transfer students)
• Personal attention and concern by the coach and
  staff

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What we will cover

• Opportunities that exist for student athletes
• What a student athlete can expect
• How to narrow down the college search
• How to identify and contact coaches
• How to track school admissions
• Sugessions on evaluating offers

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Opportunities about 1,300 schools
Sports Sponsorship Summary

• NAIA 282
• NCAA D1 326
• NCAA D2 283
• NCAA D3 423
• Divisions based on schools financial
  commitment, not on size of school.
• NCAA numbers are estimates based on information
  from
• http//www1.ncaa.org/membership/membership_svcs/sp
  onssummary

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Opportunities for money
Sports Sponsorship Summary

• NAIA wide open school elects what to do
• NCAA D1 full rides possible
• NCAA D2 limited athletic money
• NCAA D3 no athletic money allowed

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What to expect once there

• D1 Large scholarship you just got a job.
• D1 Walk on a job with no benefits except
• All D1 should expect great physical/medical
  care and dedicated academic help/guidance
• D3 Club like atmosphere
• D2 and NAIA could be like either D1 or D3
  varies by school and by sport.
• Disclaimer not all programs at all levels are
  run the same. For example D1 Gonzaga Hard Core
  Basketball club like cross country.

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Narrow down the college search

• Understand what college will cost without
  athletic, or academic, scholarships
• Evaluate athletic and academic abilities
• Determine what schools can be afforded and how.
• Search on www.collegeboard.org

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Understand what college costs

• Sticker cost is not the total cost
• Tuition
• Fees
• Room / board
• Books
• Travel
• Pizza Money

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Understand what college costs

• Expected total cost using sticker prices
• In State Public 18,000
• Out of State Public 31,000
• Private Low 34,000
• Private High 48,000
• source www.collegemoney.com/images/News/News_8_4
  .pdf

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Almost no one pays full Sticker

• Financial Aid Formula
• Five big inputs
• Parents Income
• Parents Assets
• Students Income
• Students Assets
• Number in college
• One minor input
• Age of oldest parent
• One output
• Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

• Financial Aid Theory
• Full Sticker ( misc)
• - EFC
• Financial Aid Award
• In an ideal world all you have to pay is the EFC!

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EFC Calculation
PARENT
STUDENT
BLACK BOX
EFC
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EFC Calculation
PARENTS
STUDENTS
Assets12 over API
BLACK BOX
EFC
16
EFC Calculation
PARENTS
STUDENTS
Assets12 over API
Income 22 to 47 of includible
BLACK BOX
EFC
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EFC Calculation
PARENTS
STUDENTS
Assets12 over API
Income 22 to 47 of includible
Assets 35 of all assets
BLACK BOX
EFC
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EFC Calculation
PARENTS
STUDENTS
Assets12 over API
Income 22 to 47 of includible
Assets 35 of all assets
Income 50 over 2,440
BLACK BOX
EFC
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EFC Calculation
PARENTS
STUDENTS
Assets12 over API
Income 22 to 47 of includible
Assets 35 of all assets
Income 50 over 2,440
BLACK BOX
EFC
Federal Methodology
Institutional Methodology
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EFC Calculation Critical Step

• YOU MUST DO YOUR OWN TRIAL FINANCIAL AID TEST
  TO ESTIMATE YOUR EFC to not do so would be like
  buying a car on payments with out asking the
  price of the car, the length of the loan, or the
  amount of the monthly payment.
• You may use one of these calculators
• http//apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.j
  sp
• http//finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml
  

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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Monitor students income
• Earn at least 2,440 a year
• Put away at least half of all earnings past
  2,440 for college

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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Adjust Students Assets
• Spend down students accounts prior to FAFSA
  filing
• Be aware of legal aspects on UTMA and UGMA
• Consider 529 plans - they are generally parental
  assets
• Spend down students accounts early in college
  do not retain these assets to help Jr. get a
  start on life after college

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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Reduce Parent income
• Sell losing investments good time for a tax
  loss
• Delay bonus
• Self Employed / Business owner
• Buy section 125 assets in December
• hire child to 2440 if they have no other
  income in 2006
• Examine effect of adding to retirement plans

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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Reduce Parent Assets
• Know your asset protection allowance
• Know what assets are not reported
• Retirement plans, Cash Value Life Insurance,
  Residence, Autos
• Shift reportable assets in excess of protection
  allowance - See http//studentaid.ed.gov/students
  /attachments/siteresources/0607EFCFormulaGuideDecF
  inal.pdf
• or seek assistance

Age of older parent 2 parent 1 parent
40 39,200 18,000
50 50,100 22,600
60 66,100 28,800
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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Family Members in college
• It may be time for mom or dad or sibling to go
  back to school
• The parents contribution to the EFC is divided
  by the number of immediate family members in
  college at the same time. (Coach is glad he has
  twins in college (a two for one deal), and in two
  years he will have three in college at the same
  time (a three for one deal).

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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Small opportunity for a select few
• Generally you should file your FAFSA as close to
  January 1 as possible, there may be two general
  reason to wait a bit.
• Oldest Parent has a birthday in January file
  after birthday Asset Protection Allowance goes
  up a bit
• You anticipate a major cash purchase in January
• (really big purchase of several thousand or
  more)

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Can you change your EFC Yes!

• Rerun your financial aid projection with proposed
  changes prior to actually making the changes.
  Confirm you will get the results you desire.
• Help exists for completing the FAFSA
• Determine what help you need and ask

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EFC Calculation
PARENTS
STUDENTS
Assets12 over API
Income 22 to 47 of includible
Assets 35 of all
Income 50 over 2,440
BLACK BOX
EFC
Federal Methodology
Institutional Methodology
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Evaluate Athletic Ability

• Check with your coach
• Check the stats on your sport
• Are you
• Elite -- top 300 in the country (or top 15 in
  state)
• Very good --- top 50 to 100 in the state
• Average
• Below average
• numbers are estimates not all sports have
  clear cut lines on this

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Evaluate Academic Ability

• Your grades and SAT scores can get you money.
  This varies a lot by institution. In general if
  your GPA is not in the top 25 of your class
  and/or your SAT scores are not in the 75th or
  better percentile you can skip this.
• We will get back to this.

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Best Schools to Target

• Now that you are armed with your EFC and your
  athletic and academic ratings use this table to
  start your search

Elite Very Good Average Below Average High SAT or GPA
Low EFC Any Any, but avoid strong D1 D3, D2, NAIA NAIA, D3 Any, Dream Big
High EFC D1 D2, NAIA, Soft D1s D2, NAIA In State In State Public In State, Private
High and Low EFC is relative to you but 16k to
18k is the range of in state public school.
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Start College Search

• www.collegeboard.com has a college match maker.
  Look under the find a college tab, or
• http//apps.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofscho
  ol.jsp
• Follow the NEXT option at the bottom of each page
  until all pages are done
• On the Sports section be sure to follow the
• more detail show sport levels link to pick
  D1, D2, etc.
• Submit the results after all pages are done. You
  will end up with a list of schools that meet your
  initial screening.

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Start College Search

• Examine the results you got from your search
• Redo search if needed
• Identify schools you will chose to contact
• Somewhere between 10 and 40 might be managable
• You will want the colleges web address for the
  next step
• It can be found on the At a Glance page you
  just searched for
• You can save the search if you wish

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Contacting the coach

• The theory
• Go to schools main web page
• Find the athletics link
• Now you have to find the coachs name and contact
  informatin. (email address is a good start)
• Try going to the sport first and look for coach
  info
• Once you have coachs name you may need to find
  the athletic directory, or faculty directory, to
  get the address

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Contacting the coach

• Contact the coach any way you want,
• Email
• Letter
• Phone
• Let them know you are interested in their program
  and you want to know if you might be a good fit.
  Send them information about your self as an
  athlete, and as a student (if good). Include
  stats and movies if appropriate.

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Contacting the coach

• Best if it comes from the Student.
• We emailed text similar to this with an
  attached Resume.
• Dear Coach,
• I will be graduating from high school spring of
  200X and am looking for a college with a team I
  can compete on. Your program has come to my
  attention. Please look at my attached resume, and
  contact me if I might be a good fit for your
  team. I am also wondering what type of financial
  help, if any, might be available.
• Thank you,
• NAME

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Contacting the coach

• Include a resume
• Academic information
• Athletic information
• Stats - won/loss - height/weight awards/records
• Include video clips if appropriate attach or
  mail a CD or DVD (mpeg or quicktime)
• Sample resume at
• home.comcast.net/gznak (note no www.)

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Contacting the Coach

• When a coach contacts you
• If possible research schools web site before
  responding. Let coach think you knew something
  about the school or program before you contacted
  them.
• Follow up
• If you dont apply to the school you cant go
  there
• Keep a separate file for each school Note
  conversations with the coach. Schools and coaches
  will blur together.

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Gotta Get In Follow the rules

• You must get admitted to the school to be able to
  play
• Follow standard admission policies work with
  the counseling center on this.
• Be aware of each schools deadlines for admissions
  and financial aid
• Always fill in the FAFSA on time
• NCAA Clearing house

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Found an interesting school

• Can You Get Academic Money?
• Phone Admissions or Financial Aid and ask for
  academic scholarship cut offs. Be prepared to
  give them your SAT scores, your GPA, and possibly
  your Class Rank. Most schools will tell you what
  you would be offered based on this information.

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Congrats you got an offer

• Arrange tours
• Academic early decission may reduce aid award
• National Letter of Intent
• Early offer once you sign you are committed
• Late offer
• THEY CANT OFFER IF YOU CANT GET IN THE SCHOOL!
• APPLY TO ALL COLLEGES YOU HAVE A CHANCE AT.

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What we covered

• Opportunities that exist for student athletes
• What a student athlete can expect
• How to narrow down the college search
• How to identify and contact coaches
• How to track school admissions
• Sugessions on evaluating offers