Brian writes the Ivies grant only need-based scholarships, then goes on to
identify himself as a Colgate alum. Now I'm going to say a thing or two
about financial aid, because it's part of what I do for a living, and I'm
going to talk about Colgate specifically. Much of what I have to say may
seem quite obvious to many of you, but it's nice to have a refresher course.
Please note that this message in no way points a finger at Colgate; it
merely illustrates a point.
Colleges and universities grant financial aid to students as a marketing
ploy. Many students cannot afford to pay the full price of a college
tuition (no bulletin there), so they often play schools against each other.
"School A is offering me x dollars; can you beat it?" Or the college makes
the play by saying, "We'll offer you x dollars to come here." In the
business of higher education, we refer to this as tuition discounting. You
can call it a scholarship, you can call it financial aid, but when you get
right down to it, what is really happening is that the college is offering a
discount on the sticker price.
There are two philosophies used in tuition discounting. It can either be
need-based or it can be merit-based. An athletic scholarship is a perfect
example of a merit-based financial aid award. Another example is an award
to a student with a strong financial background who carries a 3.7 GPA and
would have to pay full price at Williams, but is getting a huge discount to
attend Union. Union may not have gotten this student if they hadn't made
the deal. And it does them well to get the student with good grades who
might otherwise not attend a college in Schenectady. An example of a
need-based award is one where mom and dad's combined income is less than
$50,000 and they have two college aged children. An elite liberal arts
university like Brown would do this so to avoid having a homogenous student
body. Thus the marketing. For those of you interested in Brown, I
recommend the book "A Hope in the Unseen: an American Odyssey from the
Inner City to the Ivy League" by Ron Suskind.
Most colleges and universities do not follow a strict single based
philosophy, but instead apply a hybrid of the two. At Mount Ida College,
where I work, we skew our aid towards merit, but include a need compnent.
We compete in NCAA Division 3. As we all know, D-3 schools cannot provide
athletic scholarships and that the Ivy League voluntarily adopted this
stance. Another D-1 intercollegiate athletic conference that decided to
foresake athletic scholarships is the Patriot League (although they have
restored them in some sports). The Patriot League schedules the Ivy in I-AA
football interconference football games, and my wife is an alumna of Lehigh
University. The members of those athletic conferences may offer merit-based
awards, but athletics cannot be used as a measure of merit.
So let's say for the sake of discussion that this new goalie received a full
ride to attend Cornell. He may be a fine student and his parents are of
modest means. Put them together and you get a pretty good package. Cornell
would not, however, use his skills as a goaltender be a factor in the
determination of his award. But let's assume that he attended Colgate
instead. Colgate, as a member of the Patriot League, does not offer
athletic scholarships. Even though Colgate does not participate in men's
ice hockey as a member of the Patriot League, it has decided to apply this
rule to its entire athletic department. Colgate as an academic institution
(whose reputation I hold in very high esteem) also follows a strict single
based financial aid philosophy; all financial aid awards are need-based.
This places Colgate in a predicament. How does it remain competitive in
ECAC hockey without offering athletic scholarships? The playing field for
football is level, because all the other teams in the Patriot League are in
the same boat, but in hockey the rules are different. The answer is by
providing need-based awards. Suppose the Raiders are recruiting a player
from Ontario who comes from a family of four whose combined family income is
$50,000 Canadian. That translates to $35,000 US. He is therefore eligible
for a substantial need-based award. Imagine a team full of student-athletes
who fit this profile.
How do I know this? Because Colgate's AD Mark Murphy told me and 75 other
people this entire scenario at a seminar he hosted last fall in Philadelphia
at the Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers'
annual meeting. The subject of his discussion was financial aid and the
athletic department.
The point here is that any college and university, regardless of what their
policy is, will offer financial aid to a student-athlete to induce him/her
to enroll there. This is true in the Ivy League, the Patriot League, and in
D-3. As Michael Corleone said to the senator from Nevada in Godfather II,
"We're all part of the same hypocricy. Just don't think it applies to my
family."
Edward N. Moller
Controller and Assistant Treasurer
Mount Ida College
777 Dedham Street
Newton Centre, MA 02459-3323
Tel 617-928-4515
Fax 617-928-4746
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Morris [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 5:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Oh really
On Wednesday, July 9, 2003, at 11:25 PM, [log in to unmask]
wrote:
> I do think the Ivys with their fiction of no atheletic scholarships is
> particularly hypocritical in this area, but not Cornell more than
> others.
Arthur. The Ivies only grant need based scholarships. Cornell
exemplifies this criteria. The Big Red needed a goalie. He got a
scholarship. : - )
************************************************************************
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Brian Morris
Alumni of the academically pristine Colgate University
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