The title to this article comes from the Seinfeld television series which had a minor character named the “Soup Nazi.” The Soup Nazi ran a soup store and, if you did not order your soup according to his set of  rules, he would say: “No soup for you, NEXT!” Well, getting and keeping an athletic scholarship is like dealing with the Soup Nazi.

Meet the Scholarship Nazi

Here is a scene from a rip-off, pilot episode of a new show called The Scholarship Nazi.

SN: “I’m sorry to break the news to you, but your high school aged son is not getting a D1 or D2 scholarship to play baseball, NEXT!”

Parent: “Wait, you’ve never seen my son play before. He’s something special.”

SN: “I’m sure he is a fine ballplayer and a fine young man, but I don’t have to see him play to know he is not D1 or D2 material, NEXT!”

Parent: “Wait, how about my other son? He’s only six years old? There’s still time, right?”

SN: “Doesn’t matter I’m 99.2% positive that neither of them will  be getting a full ride and I’m 97.3 % sure they won’t be getting any money at all from a D1 or D2 school. Actually, for your younger son, the odds are probably even less, NEXT!”

Parent: “How do you know any of this without knowing my sons?”

SN: “The odds say so. No scholarship for you, NEXT!”

Parent: “Ridiculous!”

SN: “You mean if I give your son a scholarship, then you’re part of the package too? I don’t need that hassle. Definitely no scholarship for you then, NEXT!”

Parent: “I can’t believe we don’t have a chance.”

SN: “Do you recall the  Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011?”

Parent: “Sure, the 99% ers protested the 1% ers.”

SN: “Were you a part of the 99% in that movement?”

Parent: “Yeah, for sure, we’re not that well off.”

SN: “Okay, good news for your then.”

Parent: “Really, there’s hope? What’s the good news?”

SN: “The good news is that you’re still part of the 99% club when it comes to baseball, NEXT!”

Parent: “You’re an ass!”

SN: “I think it’s time for you to go read Saving Babe Ruth . It’s getting rave reviews and tells you what the real deal is in youth baseball.”

Athletic Scholarships

In March of 2008, The New York Times ran an article on the availability of college scholarships to high school athletes.  You can see the article here and the table of data here broken down by sport and sex.

At the time the article was written there were about 451,701 young men playing high school baseball. Around the same time, there were 12,272 receiving some kind D1 or D2  scholarship money for baseball. So the chance of getting any D1 or D2 scholarship money is 2.7% of all players playing high school baseball in the  United States.

If you think full rides are given to play baseball in college, think again. The average annual scholarship received for D1 and D2 baseball was $5,806. So don’t be deceived when a player in some high school sits down and signs a D1 and D2 letter of intent to a lot of fanfare put on by the school or parents. These signing days create a false impression. Too bad there is no letter of intent signing days for academic scholarships.

Of course, once you get your athletic scholarship, the work really begins. From the same New York Times article: “‘Kids who have worked their whole life trying to get a scholarship think the hard part is over when they get the college money,’ said Tim Poydenis, a senior at Villanova receiving $3,000 a year to play baseball. ‘They don’t know that it’s a whole new monster when you get here. Yes, all the hard work paid off. And now you have to work harder.’ ”

At a number of schools, the athletic scholarships are not automatically renewable year to year. If the coach doesn’t like you, you could lose your scholarship. Read this article on the topic. There are many reasons you could lose an athletic scholarship.  From 2008 to 2009, 22 percent of men’s college basketball players didn’t have their scholarships renewed, according to the National College Players Association.

Rick Allen”s “Informed Athlete” site makes a good point: “Some baseball programs have established their own set of ‘rules’ for distributing scholarships.  Some let recruits know up front that their scholarship will decline each year after their freshman year, while others may inform the players after their enrollment that there will not be a baseball scholarship for their senior year if they return.” Scroll down his site to the question and answer section and you will experience all sorts of things that can happen to you as a athlete with a baseball scholarship. I have seen or heard about a number of solid baseball players go on to D1 programs on scholarships only to find themselves back at community college or out of school the following  year.

There are no guarantees.

Let’s look at the pot for baseball scholarships.  During the year of the New York Times study, there was an estimated total of  $71.3 million dollars available for playing baseball at D1 and D2 schools across the United States.

Merit Scholarships

Now let’s look at how much merit aid (need based on high school academic performance, not financial aid)  is available for students across the country. It is reported that there is about $13 billion dollars ($2 billion state aid is included) in merit based aid available to college students.

So, there is 182 times more merit aid available than there is athletic aid for baseball athletes.

Here are some facts about merit aid:

• 25% of all students receive merit aid.
• many of the merit awards are renewable year after year for continued academic performance.
• the average merit award is $5,000 per year though many schools offer substantially more.

Is it smarter to focus on merit aid or athletic scholarship aid?

Let’s say I put you in a room and told you there were two boxes of money you could compete for in a game. One box had a dollar bill and the other box had $182 in it. Which box would you want to win? Simple, right?  Let’s add one more variable: you have a 2.8% chance of winning the dollar and a 25% chance of winning the $182.00. Simpler still, right? Well, this is the difference between merit aid and and baseball scholarships. There is 182 times more merit aid available than for baseball scholarships and you have a better chance of winning some of that money.

But, hey, it’s a free country. So if you want to argue over a dollar bill with a 97.2% chance of failure, go knock yourself out.

Let’s put it a different way. Let’s say you are a baseball coach. You need a pinch hitter off the bench. You have your choice of two batters who have been up hundreds of times that season. One is batting .002 and the other is batting .364. Which one do you  put in the game? Easy answer, right? Again, the difference is a multiplier of 182.

Focus on Merit Aid; Hope for Athletic Aid

Any parent or student who focuses on a baseball athletic scholarship as a means to pay for college costs is playing a low odds game for a small pot. But I see parents investing/spending loads of money and time for the primary purpose of attaining a D1 or D2 scholarship.You are better served to spend that money for academic tutoring or career counseling.

If you are looking for aid for your son to go to college, have him hit the books in high school and compete for merit aid. As far as baseball is concerned, there are opportunities to play baseball in college (I’m thinking mainly D3 or even club baseball) for good ball players with excellent academic records. Good ball players are a dime a dozen; good ball players with excellent grades are a much rarer breed. D3 schools can’t award athletic scholarships outright, but some have some ways of sweetening the financial aid package with in-house scholarships. It varies from school to school so it’s best to do your research.

Let’s take this analysis one step further. What are the odds of playing professional baseball? The odds are that less than .5% (that’s one half of one percent) that a high school player will be drafted by a major league team.  Of course, “drafted” is not the same as “playing.”  You can see that information for baseball and other sports here.

By way of comparison (not endorsement), a student has a 44% chance of being admitted to medical school from college.

In the end, playing for the bigger merit pot with the better odds makes sense. You can hope for an athletic scholarship if you want.

Next week I’ll discuss  when parents should disclose these odds to their children as part of making a pledge to the eighteen year plan. When should a child be told that the Scholarship Fairy is really the Scholarship Nazi? (Note: You can now find next week’s article here). 

My new novel, Saving Babe Ruth, is a thrill ride based on a true story. It’s about a man who risks it all and will stop at nothing to save kids’ baseball in his town.  It has received rave reviews. Click here to read more about it.

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