Many student-athletes believe that, after they’ve been awarded a scholarship for the year, it can’t be taken away regardless of behavior, performance, or outside circumstances. This is not true. In reality, a scholarship may be revoked during the period of award for a number of reasons, including:
- Ineligibility for intercollegiate competition
- Fraudulent misrepresentation on a school application, National Letter of Intent, and/or financial-aid statement
- Misconduct warranting substantial disciplinary penalty
- Voluntary withdrawal from the team
If your scholarship is reduced or cancelled for one of the preceding reasons, you’re entitled to an appeal hearing. However, the chances of a committee overturning your coach’s decision if you’re engaged
in one of these activities generally fall in the slim-to-none category unless there are some strong mitigating circumstances. For example, you quit the team because you needed to focus on your academics so you wouldn’t be suspended from the university — the coach allowed you to keep your scholarship for the remainder of the year but did not renew it for the next year.
You can’t accept a scholarship, quit the team, and then continue to receive the scholarship. Your grades, behavior, and commitment to the team are all extremely important factors in whether or not you will receive a scholarship for four or five years — or be dropped after one.
Unfortunately, injuries are a part of athletics, and sometimes those injuries are severe enough to end a student-athlete’s career. Be sure to ask your coach if you’ll continue to receive your scholarship if you suffer a career-ending injury or illness. The scholarships that are awarded to student-athletes who will never play again due to injury do not count toward the team’s maximum limitations.
Who decides if you get to keep your scholarship?
Ultimately, the decision as to whether you’ll keep your scholarship and for what amount is made by the head coach. Most coaches have individual meetings with players toward the end of the spring semester and let them know their status. This way, it isn’t a surprise when you receive the financial-aid agreement (or a letter
telling you that you aren’t receiving a scholarship) in the summer.
Although the coach is the one who makes this decision, you have the power to make it a “no-brainer” decision. If you stay away from the four ways your scholarship can be immediately cancelled that we discussed in the preceding section and adhere to the following tips, the chances of your keeping your scholarship for four or five years will increase to nearly 100 percent:
- Go to every class unless you have an away game or are sick. Take a schedule to your professors the first week of class, and let them know the days you’ll be gone for away games.
- Try to schedule your classes around your practice schedule as often as possible. Just don’t do this at the expense of your ultimate goal: to get your degree.
- Show up on time (or early) for practices and games.
- Dress appropriately for practice. Don’t wear torn T-shirts and your hat on backward.
- Dress appropriately to travel to away games. When you’re on the road, you’re representing your team, your school, and yourself!
- Work out on your own in the off season to try to improve your skills and get in better shape. Talk to your coach to find out the areas in which you need to improve.
- Stay focused and pay attention during practices and games.
- Don’t talk to your teammates about the frat party later that night. During games, avoid waving to your buddies and family in the crowd. If you’re on the bench, stay ready to play at any time.
- Keep a positive attitude even if you aren’t playing a lot (or traveling) as a freshman or sophomore. More than likely, there are juniors and seniors on the team who went through the same experience.
- Be respectful of your coaches, teammates, and professors. As corny as it sounds, treat them the way you want them to treat you!
Even though there are events that can happen beyond your control, in which you may have your scholarship reduced or cancelled (for example, your coach quits, or an unexpected star transfers to your school), following these tips will make a coach want to keep you on scholarship and as part of the team!
If your scholarship is reduced or cancelled, the school must notify you of this in writing and give you the chance to appeal the decision if you think it’s unfair. If you want to appeal this decision, a committee made up of members outside the athletic department (for example, the director of financial aid, the dean of students, faculty members, and so on) will hear the appeal, and their decision is final. If you have specific questions about this, the director of compliance on campus should be able to help you.
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