A day in the life of an athlete is not an easy one. Each student athlete wakes up, goes to school, then heads straight to an intense two hour practice. After all the hard work is put in, it’s about 5 p.m. or later. Some practices don’t finish until at least 8. The athlete then heads home to eat dinner, shower, and onto hours of homework. Every day the athlete is on a tight schedule that requires persistence and hard work.
Why would all of the determined student athletes go through this tough routine every day and then throw it away when heading to college? That makes no sense. The main reason that athletes participate in sports is because we love them, and we want to play for as long as we can. If athletes have the ability and skills to play in college why not use it to our advantage in the application process?
Athletes do not try to use their athletic abilities as a way to get into college. They simply want to continue doing what they love. College sports are such a big commitment that athletes have to love the sport. The only reason students get in contact with coaches in the first place is because they want to know if they really can play at that college or not. If they cannot play at that college they will try somewhere else. Ultimately, they just want to find the college that will benefit them the most and also have a fun college experience with their team.
The big misconception about athletes using sports as a way to get accepted to colleges is that people always assume that if someone is playing a sport in college it is because that athlete got a scholarship to that school. This is not true.
First of all, Division III schools are not allowed to directly influence scholarship decisions for an athlete. According to US News, the NCAA “bars college coaches from even ‘indirectly influencing’ scholarship decisions at Division III schools”. This means the coach cannot have any influence over the chances of an athlete getting a scholarship. Most athletes at Division III schools are not receiving scholarships, and if they do, it would be for academics.
Division I and Division II scholarships are very similar to each other. The student athlete can either receive a full scholarship or get equivalencies, which only provide some financial aid. The amount of money that each athlete or team receives can be limited though because all of the grants given to athletes is reported to the financial aid offices at the college. This limits how much money each team can give out, and also limits whether an athlete can receive money from any other form of financial aid.
Truthfully, the reason that people do not think it is right for student athletes to use a sport in helping them get into college is because they do not think about how much time and effort these kids put into their sport. If everyone realized how much time it took for these students to participate in sports and balance school, work etc. they would be more understanding of why students take advantage of participating in sports at a higher level.
Students should be allowed to get into a college through sports because they are doing what they love. For example, other students can get academic or fine arts scholarships, so how is that any different from receiving an athletic scholarship? Let the kids do what they love and be rewarded for it.