The final installment of The New York Times series on athletic scholarships was published today and it focuses on the life of a scholarship athlete. Several things jumped out at me in the article. First, getting a scholarship is the easy part:
“Kids who have worked their whole life trying to get a scholarship think the hard part is over when they get the college money,” he said. “They don’t know that it’s a whole new monster when you get here.”
His coach, Joe Godri, says he tries to warn recruits before they accept athletic aid. He tells them that being a Division I student-athlete is a full-time job. “It’s not even close to being a normal college student,” Godri said.
Second, the attrition rate is significant which is something I have personally noticed when scanning college soccer rosters:
The life of the scholarship athlete is so arduous that coaches and athletes said it was not unusual for as many as 15 percent of those receiving athletic aid to quit sports and turn down the scholarship money after a year or two.
This story has been archived in the articles section of the website.
