Picking the right university when you have several offers can be very overwhelming for a young student-athlete. As a matter of fact, it can be one of the hardest decisions you will ever be faced with. Coaches are all great salesmen, as it is a big part of their job to sell their program to recruits and to find the best possible athletes for their teams. So it can get very difficult to figure out which option might be the best one for you.
What we see happen a lot, is that athletes tend to go for the cheapest option or for the biggest scholarship. While there is nothing wrong with that approach, it can also lead to you not picking the best opportunity or the best fit for you. As we have talked about in previous blog posts, having a good relationship with the coach, finding the right type of academics, being in an area that you are comfortable with, are all very important factors that you need to consider when picking your college. Obviously cost is a very important factor as well and every family has a certain budget available to them. We totally understand that and there is definitely nothing wrong with that.
However, let’s look at a specific example to go a bit deeper into this topic. A young junior golfer, named Tiger W. (just an entirely fictional name obviously) has narrowed down his college search to two universities. One is a big time golf program and a university with some of the best academics in the country. The other one is a very small school with a middle of the road golf program and an average academic reputation. Now, school #1 will cost Tiger roughly $12000 for his first year. School #2 on the other hand will cost Tiger (or his family) slightly less at $10000 for the first year. The question Tiger’s parents need to ask themselves is whether going for the cheapest option will give Tiger the best chance of being successful both academically and as a golfer? Or could the extra $2000 for the first year be seen as an investment into Tiger’s future, that should definitely pay dividends a few years down the road?
So the point we are trying to make with this example about young Tiger, is that it is important not to be “blinded” by a certain amount of scholarship or by one option being the cheapest one. Because if you look at this example, you might notice that this can be a very small investment that could potentially be life changing. Obviously, as mentioned above, every family will have a certain budget that they cannot go over, we understand that. However, in some cases, if you can make a bit of a financial effort and maybe stretch that budget a little bit, you might end up making the best possible decision for your son’s or daughter’s future!