If free college was a thing in the US... Re athletes

I was an athlete throughout junior high, high school and my under-graduate years of college.

I had no intentions of being a professional athlete so maybe that makes a difference. Were it not for the scholarships I wouldn't have played sports in college.

I did love the sports I played. But school, for me, was about the academics and starting my career. The sports/scholarships were a means to that end.

So all that to say that yes I guess I agree with your FaceBook friend. :-)

By all means, let's base educational policy and funding decisions on how they may affect athletic programs ...

wow some of you really know some elite people... i've been a substitute teacher since 2000 and have 4 kids, 2 long graduated, and i know ONE kid going to school on a sports scholarship!!

i personally think if they leave college early (and the above statement that ALL seniors graduate with a degree is just ludicrous), they should have to pay back the money the school invested in them. they are prepped for years to play all the way thru and lead their teams to championships and ticket sales then they bail when something better comes along. johnny manziel i'm looking at you!!

my stepson had his CDL school paid for by a trucking company and he changed jobs about 6 months in and now owes the original company for the cost of his schooling. he agreed to this when he started, so fair game.

Do you substitute at high schools? If so, I imagine you know a lot more than you think. Every year at signing day we have at least six kids at the ceremony. Those are just the ones that come. For one of the eight high schools in my district.

DS played football all through HS. I can absolutely state that most of the boys felt it was there only chance to get into college. Whether it was because of finances or grades. And so many of them were convinced they would play professionally.

Luckily, DS got a ton of academic scholarships and was recruited for his HS engineering experience, not football. When he found out he had enough money, he decided to not even apply to play football. He wanted to focus on his academics. But he wasn't that great--he probably wouldn't have made the starting line. And he didn't want to spend 4 years traveling and giving up activities related to his major to warm a bench. But he was definitely in the minority on his HS team.

Not an elite thing at all. Our school is a Title 1 school and the counselors go to great lengths to help all of the kids get scholarships, not just athletes, but we have several kids every year go on to play sports in college to gain scholarships. Both of my DDs were dating boys who went to college on full ride athletic scholarships. That was their plan the entire time they played in middle/high school and they went to great lengths to send videos to scouts, go to showcases/combines, get their coaches involved, etc. 

I have to agree that I think a lot of athletes play sports in college as a way to pay for it and that if the scholarships weren't there, they wouldn't go to college. 

Isn't the "free college" plan only supposed to be for two years of community college? If so, it would apply to very few athletic programs. Some community colleges have scholarship athletic programs, but most do not, at least not in my experience

I would think even if college tuition is free, room and board won't be so colleges would still be able to offer room and board to entice athletes.

I would be fine with that if it were true. I don't believe athletes deserve college scholarships. I don't believe sports and college should be intertwined at all.

Sports scholarships are not as prevalent as you think.

www.cnbc.com/2014/10/13/think-athletic-scholarships-are-a-holy-grail-think-again.html

Just 3.3 percent of high school seniors playing men's basketball will have roster positions on NCAA teams as freshmen

As well as
Plenty of athletes share that experience. In a survey of college athletes by the NCAA asking what students wished they could have changed about their college sports experience, the most common responses were about time. Another NCAA survey found that a typical NCAA athlete in-season spends 39 hours a week on academics—and 33 hours a week on sports.

We talk about how kids should get a job to help pay for college. The college is paying them to play a sport just like if the college hired them to work as a RA. The sport is their job for the 4 or 5 years they are at school. If they do not put in the time and keep up their grades their scholarship is pulled and they are done.

My son in swimming was a lucky one. Roughly 561 swimming scholarships were available for boys in 2013 and 1,037 for girls, putting the odds of a male high school swimmer receiving a college swimming scholarship at 1 in 48 and the odds for a girl at 1 in 31.

More money is given out for academics than sports as well. You just don't hear about it.

www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703824304575435340724917622

Research by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, shows colleges and universities hand out more than nine times more money in academic merit scholarships than in athletic scholarship—$9.5 billion, compared with $1 billion for athletic scholarships, based on 2007-2008 data, the latest available. Some 16.9% of undergraduate students in bachelor's degree programs received academic merit scholarships and grants, compared with only 1.4% who received athletic scholarships, he says. These numbers don't include private-sector scholarships from sources other than colleges and universities.

Not all sports parents are "crazy" and not all athletes are stupid.

I get that some people aren't into sports.

You cannot judge all athletes by a few either.

I have a Freshman DD who is a varsity soccer player. She is also an honor student.  I don't consider myself a "soccer crazy parent". Although I love to watch her play. She loves it. Playing makes her happy. Is she going to play on the USWNT? Never. Might she play in a Div 2 or 3 college? Possibly.

In a society where many people are overweight, I'm happy that she wants to play sports. She is very physically fit, and because her body demands so much from her, she is very conscious about eating healthy because if she eats a lot of crap, her body won't perform like she wants it to.

I will say though, our district supports ALL activities, not just sports. The JH I work at has kids on a bus trip to a UIL function right now from band.

I'm not a band parent, but I support them and love that the kids participate.

I think sports, band, debate, etc. are ALL important in HS. The teen years are tough. Everyone needs their "place". Not everyone's place is in fine arts. Sports give some kids that feeling of belonging, just like band gives it to others, and cheerleading gives it to others, and then yet others get that from debate.

All of the above except my DS is a Jr. hoping to play college basketball.  He loves the sport and works VERY hard at it.  DS is also a 4.0 student who is thinking about pre med.