Sample Sunday: Play2Pay Chapter 1

The following is an excerpt from Play2Pay: How to Market Your College Bound Student-Athlete for Scholarship Money, by Beth Walker, Founder of College Funding Coaching, and Honoree Corder, Personal Transformation Expert.

This guide is designed for families who want to send their student’s to college without going broke and view partial athletic scholarship money as part of their overall funding strategy.

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Chapter 1: The Playing Field

College today is expensive, expected, and misunderstood.  Other than that it’s the single biggest source of stress between parents and teenagers in most U.S. households today. 

Let us explain…

In terms of cost, nothing we pay for in terms of products or services has risen as sharply as the cost of college.  College costs have risen 539% over the last 20 years as compared to the 251% increase in medical care over the same time frame (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, NCPPE, US Census Bureau, Wall Street Journal).

And the rate of inflation related to the cost of college isn’t the only financial burden faced by families today – most families have not saved or planned for the expenses related to college and find themselves amassing debt in their efforts to finance post secondary education…

·    61.6% of undergraduate students borrowed money for funding their education in the form of student loans and their average cumulative debt amounted to $17,878; 13.5% of parents borrowed to fund their children’s education, amassing an average PLUS loan debt of $23,298. (Note: These figures were calculated using the data analysis system for the 2007-2008 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics at the US Department of Education.)

Despite the costs, most kids today will tell you they plan to go to college.  Press them as to why and they’ll tell you they know they need to go to get a good job and that’s what their parents expect.

Beyond that, most students can’t tell you what or where they want to study … which leads us to yet another incredible statistic regarding college today – most kids are taking 6 years to get a four year degree.  

In fact, according to the most recent Dept. of Education report, about half of students who started college in 2003 had managed to graduate within six years.  Another 15% were still attending college and more than a third had dropped out.

But don’t despair…

As the parent of a student-athlete, you can be much more optimistic about your student’s prospect for going to college at a reduced price, finishing in a timely manner, and graduating with less debt. Find more information here: http://www.finaid.org/educators/20110505athleticscholarships.pdf.

But, you also have to be realistic about the role an athletic scholarship will play in your overall college funding strategy.

While it’s true there is a lot of money in college athletic scholarships – over $1.1 billion dollars worth – the percentage of high school athletes that actually supports is relatively small – 1.4%. Source: http://www.finaid.org/educators/20110505athleticscholarships.pdf.   

In fact, the typical N.C.A.A. athletic scholarship awarded, excluding football and men’s basketball, is only $ 8,707 (Source: Expectations Lost to Reality of Sports Scholarships, NY Times, by Bill Pennington (3/10/2008).  With the average public university costing $19,640 per year and private colleges requiring $40,493 per year (Source: College Board), an athletic scholarship that must be renewed each year is not insignificant but will not solve the funding challenge in and of itself.

Most families wait too long to market their student-athletes, believing that getting in front of college coaches in the junior and senior year of high school will result in meaningful scholarship offers.  The fact is, 75% of college coaches are tracking athletes for recruiting purposes by their sophomore year. (Source: How To Market Your Student Athlete for Athletic Scholarships by Chuck Moore.)

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