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CU Tiger · 08-05-2020, 08:38 AM

So I dont know if this should go here, the kids leaving home thread, the Covid thread or the random thoughts thread but ...in a Last Chane U sort of way its football related so Im going here.

So for anyone who is wholly unfamiliar with the math matrinations that are D2 scholarships and also not up to speed on SC state lottery college funds and how this all intersects with Covid and college football and educator incompetence let me tell you a little story that frustrates me.

D2 football operates under total different rules than D1 regarding scholarships. Of course the number of ships is lower (36 as opposed to 85 in FBS) but the biggest difference is in FBS its all or nothing. There are no partials. Where as in D2 the dollar total is equivalent to 36 full rides. So what most of the schools do I've found is they rank kids from 1-100 on team in terms of their importance or favor or whatever. Then they distribute all the school money they can. Being a private school there are universal scholarships available for certain GPAs, certain affiliations, etc etc etc. Next they apply the state money the kids get, be it grants or what in SC is known as Life or Hope (different tiers of the lottery education funds based on your gps and success)
Then they "make whole" players from the top down and see who owes what as they near the bottom.
In essence you can end up with 70-80 full ride kids this way for the cost of only 36 within the legal limits.

Well...one of the requirements of the SC education lottery money is you need to maintain a 3.0 GPA and you must complete 30 hours per year to remain eligible. Important footnote it used to be 30 hours per year for the Life and 25 for Hope but they unified this to 30 across the board a few years ago.

My son's school limits football players to 12 hours during fall semester to accommodate practice and minimize class missed for game travel. The latter is actually the primary driver - this is small time football and in fact much of the campus holds their nose that they even have such a barbaic group of unwashed heathens in their presence. But I digress. The school actually limits students to no more than 18 credit hours a semester by school policy (allegedly to force students to need a 9th semester to graduate and maximize $$$) but...again for athletes in a very small school accumulating 18 hours that align with schedule can be difficult.

Luckily there is Summer I and Summer II to add additional hours. Until there isnt because Summer I and Summer II are cancelled due to Covid..and an academic advisor is behind the times and still thinks the requirement is for 25 hours and suddenly a week before class starts you have a mass of kids with little parental guidance being forced to fill out loan docs to find $3k/year to attend college that they otherwise now dont qualify for in education money because they only have 25-29 credit hours and aren't on path.

Now before anyone thinks I'm crying the blues here, I'm not. We are financially blessed that the $3k wouldn't alter life plans, and further blessed that my son carried AP hours over and still qualifies for his SCED $$$. But I did meet with the AD yesterday (at my request) and decline a portion of his scholarship to be allocated to two teamates who were otherwise packing their bags to head home.

This stuff just pisses me off. The school has paid people to advise these kids. Yes these "kids" are old enough to take personal responsibility, but they are still kids, and many from bad backgrounds. If sports is going to break the cycle and provide an escape we need a tour guide along the route to point the way. Dammit colleges get your crap together.

Sorry rant over.

08-05-2020, 08:38 AM	#45
CU Tiger Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Backwoods, SC	So I dont know if this should go here, the kids leaving home thread, the Covid thread or the random thoughts thread but ...in a Last Chane U sort of way its football related so Im going here. So for anyone who is wholly unfamiliar with the math matrinations that are D2 scholarships and also not up to speed on SC state lottery college funds and how this all intersects with Covid and college football and educator incompetence let me tell you a little story that frustrates me. D2 football operates under total different rules than D1 regarding scholarships. Of course the number of ships is lower (36 as opposed to 85 in FBS) but the biggest difference is in FBS its all or nothing. There are no partials. Where as in D2 the dollar total is equivalent to 36 full rides. So what most of the schools do I've found is they rank kids from 1-100 on team in terms of their importance or favor or whatever. Then they distribute all the school money they can. Being a private school there are universal scholarships available for certain GPAs, certain affiliations, etc etc etc. Next they apply the state money the kids get, be it grants or what in SC is known as Life or Hope (different tiers of the lottery education funds based on your gps and success) Then they "make whole" players from the top down and see who owes what as they near the bottom. In essence you can end up with 70-80 full ride kids this way for the cost of only 36 within the legal limits. Well...one of the requirements of the SC education lottery money is you need to maintain a 3.0 GPA and you must complete 30 hours per year to remain eligible. Important footnote it used to be 30 hours per year for the Life and 25 for Hope but they unified this to 30 across the board a few years ago. My son's school limits football players to 12 hours during fall semester to accommodate practice and minimize class missed for game travel. The latter is actually the primary driver - this is small time football and in fact much of the campus holds their nose that they even have such a barbaic group of unwashed heathens in their presence. But I digress. The school actually limits students to no more than 18 credit hours a semester by school policy (allegedly to force students to need a 9th semester to graduate and maximize $$$) but...again for athletes in a very small school accumulating 18 hours that align with schedule can be difficult. Luckily there is Summer I and Summer II to add additional hours. Until there isnt because Summer I and Summer II are cancelled due to Covid..and an academic advisor is behind the times and still thinks the requirement is for 25 hours and suddenly a week before class starts you have a mass of kids with little parental guidance being forced to fill out loan docs to find $3k/year to attend college that they otherwise now dont qualify for in education money because they only have 25-29 credit hours and aren't on path. Now before anyone thinks I'm crying the blues here, I'm not. We are financially blessed that the $3k wouldn't alter life plans, and further blessed that my son carried AP hours over and still qualifies for his SCED $$$. But I did meet with the AD yesterday (at my request) and decline a portion of his scholarship to be allocated to two teamates who were otherwise packing their bags to head home. This stuff just pisses me off. The school has paid people to advise these kids. Yes these "kids" are old enough to take personal responsibility, but they are still kids, and many from bad backgrounds. If sports is going to break the cycle and provide an escape we need a tour guide along the route to point the way. Dammit colleges get your crap together. Sorry rant over.