Money Talks - Academic vs. Athletic Scholarships

Let’s say you’re a pretty good swimmer who’s starting to look at colleges. Among the many decisions to make over the next ten months is whether to focus your efforts on D1, D2, or D3 schools. Like any other college bound student, you probably don’t want to pay the full sticker price to attend ANY school. Who could blame you, a college education is very, very expensive. So right off the bat, you may be drawn toward D1 and D2 schools by the allure of the athletic scholarship. What do those D3 schools have to offer you, right? Well, as it turns out, D3 schools like Randolph-Macon can be quite affordable, and will most often be able to offer you more money based on academic achievement than a D1 school would be able to offer for an athletic scholarship.

Bill Pennington of The New York Times wrote an excellent article on the subject of athletic scholarships earlier this year, in which the reality of the situation was laid out pretty well. The truth is that there aren’t too many full scholarships that are given out in D1 athletics. Most Division 1 scholarship athletes, including some of the very best, receive only partial athletic scholarships. The NCAA actually limits the number of scholarships that sports teams can award. In women’s swimming, the maximum is 14 in Division 1 and 8.1 in Division 2. On top of that, you have to take into account the fact that not all swimming teams are funded at these maximum levels by their university athletic departments. Finally, keep in mind that teams can carry 18 swimmers to conference and NCAA championships, and most coaches will want more athletes than that on their roster. The end result is that most scholarships are divided up among the 20 or more athletes on the team. The average D1 women’s swimming scholarship amounts to approximately $9,500. In Division II, it is less than this.

Now compare that to Randolph-Macon:
At R-MC, the average award for academic scholarships and grants is in excess of $16,800. Our Presidential Scholars Program gives out awards ranging up to $20,000 per year!! In addition to this, the average need based financial aid package is $24,200, with 52% of students receiving such awards.

It literally pays to do well in school, and in many cases, a student will get more money at Randolph-Macon from the combination of academic awards and need based aid than from a Division 1 athletic scholarship.

Sad News

Since my last post was about graduation and focused on the commencement speaker, Tim Russert, I feel it is only appropriate to note of Mr. Russert's unfortunate death on June 13th. As anyone who tuned in to NBC or MSNBC the week after Mr. Russert's death knows, he was more than just one of the premier political journalists in the nation. While his friends, family, and colleagues mourned his death, so too did those who had only known Mr. Russert through their television sets, and yet somehow felt connected to him on a personal level. He had that effect on people. The sheer number of television hours devoted to memorializing Mr. Russert shows us just how impactful he was on the lives of others.

The Randolph-Macon Class of 2008, and everyone else who had the opportunity to see and hear Tim Russert speak at the May 31st graduation ceremony, should consider themselves lucky to have received some wisdom from this great man.

Graduation Day

Last Saturday, May 31st, was graduation day here at R-MC. The 2008 commencement exercises were held outdoors on what was a beautiful early summer day (summer starts early here in the south) in central Virginia. The commencement address was given by Tim Russert, who is best known as the moderator of NBC's Meet The Press. Russert (also a native of upstate NY, FYI) urged the class of 2008 to give back and use their R-MC education to help those who are less fortunate.

Graduation also marked the end of a 4-year journey for our 3 seniors, Aimee Powell, Maureen McLaughlin, and Randi Smith. Though not the largest graduating class around, the R-MC Swimming Class of 2008 made up in character what it lacked in numbers. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it'll take a lot more than 3 incoming swimmers to replace the amount of character we're losing to graduation. Luckily, we are welcoming 8 freshmen to the team for next season!

Best of luck to Aimee, Maureen, and Randi as they enter the "real world" and begin their lives as post-grads!