Scholarships not happening

[LexParticipant]

I don’t recall anyone asking for the brainless raider’s opinion before ; so lets ignore the wannabe troll.

[NeighborParticipant]

Lex, you seem very bitter about the Lehigh experience your family has encountered. I am sorry for that. I, too, criticize Lehigh on occasional decisions.

On this topic, I respond as a college football fan. An active fan for more than 40 years. Lehigh is my home team (after all, I am Neighbor!). When Lehigh looks across the sideline at their opponent, I want to think Lehigh had the same opportunity to attract EVERY player out there. That’s all.

Lehigh’s pursuit of players will never be totally equal, though, because Lehigh still places a value on academic achievement, as they SHOULD. Problem is, there are many good student athletes who will select their college (as they SHOULD) according to how it affects their, and their families, budget. Can’t blame them.

If ever Lehigh loses a good student, a good athlete, over $10-15K per year, I find that unacceptable. Particularly for a program that, we presume, strives to become the top of its class and hopes to benefit from the positive exposure and attendance surge that can come with that level of success.

[lfnadminKeymaster]

"Lex" wrote: you’re both making the same 2 incorrect assumptions –1) that all, or most, of the FB players are receving a full package. that’s nowhere near true. by my son’s guess (who is a current player) about half the team is getting some aid – but very few are getting a full package.

One of the common misconceptions at the FCS level is that it’s a "scholarship sport" – that all the kids out there are full scholarship or walk-ons (non-scholarship). In FCS, football is an "equivalency sport" – FCS teams split up aid all the time, which makes sense with 100 man rosters and 63 "scholarships" to dole out. I’d venture to say that on a typical team in FCS at a bare minimum 20-30 athletes are "half scholly". So Lehih and the PL is no different than the rest of FCS on this score.

"Lex" wrote: 2) and saying the two are the same is wrong. with a scholarship you don’t have to fill out all that paperwork including registering on 2 web sites. I know I’ve done it. it’s a pain in the ass and takes hours. it’s done that way purposely so parents give up. sort of like trying to return something at Home Depot. my case is a good example. I receive that crappy little Stafford LOAN – now, by Lehigh’s account, I receive fin aid. what a joke!

bottom line, in these economic times Gast (who is NOT a sports fan) is not going to "GIVE AWAY millions of $ to satisfy a few and risk pissing off many. (including donors) And like I said, Fordham will soon find out that no one cares about their demands (and they better be careful or they’ll become the next Iona)

If by Iona meaning they may discover that life as an FCS independent could precipitate a few years toiling as an independent before discovering that it’s not worth it to the University, there is that (unlikely) possibility. More likely, though, another conference would offer them an invite.

You are right, though, that scholarships as pursued by the rest of FCS and the equivalency game pursued by the PL is different. And having to go through the aid office does indeed turn some people off from joining the PL.

[colorless-raiderParticipant]

"Lex" wrote: I don’t recall anyone asking for the brainless raider’s opinion before ; so lets ignore the wannabe troll.

Let’s see "Lex" has SIX posts. Who’s trolling?? By the sounds of it your son doesn’t get on the field and you are pissed and fearful that the scholarships kids will keep him on the bench.

[LexParticipant]

Ah, the brainless Raider emerges from his hole after other posters defend my argument. Guess he doesn’t like to be proven wrong.

oh, BTW, how could scholarship kids be keeping my son off the field FB when there are no scholarship players on Lehigh :?:

also, where did you or your son play college FB :?: Or, are you just one of those keyboard warriors :?:

Checkmate :lol:

[BillParticipant]

By the way (with all of the Iona talk I feel compelled to mention the following:

1. Glad to see that Iona’s coach, (and former Lehigh OL coach under Small) Fred Mariani has gotten a job on the Rutgers staff…he is a great guy and I wish him only the best!
2. Remember, Iona only went "D-1" (or fake D-I, as I used to call it) when their hand was forced by the NCAA to go D-I or give up football when the NCAA rulings about competition came out. As was mentioned in other threads, this led to the D-1AA non scholarship league that now has many schools no longer playing football…
3. As I have typed before, I believe it will be Colgate that leads the PL toward scholarships in the not-to distant future!

[PA-RamParticipant]

"lfnadmin" wrote: [quote="Lex"]you’re both making the same 2 incorrect assumptions –1) that all, or most, of the FB players are receving a full package. that’s nowhere near true. by my son’s guess (who is a current player) about half the team is getting some aid – but very few are getting a full package.

One of the common misconceptions at the FCS level is that it’s a "scholarship sport" – that all the kids out there are full scholarship or walk-ons (non-scholarship). In FCS, football is an "equivalency sport" – FCS teams split up aid all the time, which makes sense with 100 man rosters and 63 "scholarships" to dole out. I’d venture to say that on a typical team in FCS at a bare minimum 20-30 athletes are "half scholly". So Lehih and the PL is no different than the rest of FCS on this score.[/quote] That’s obvious from the fact that we have more than 58 players on our squad and you guys have more than 50+ players on your squad. Since it ridiculous to assume that 58 guys are getting a full ride and the rest of the team is paying full tuition, it’s obviously a case of splitting up the amount of money that is "equivalent" to 58 scholarships (in our case) over your entire team.

So, we’re clearly back to the more relevant question of "what is Lehigh’s current # of equivalencies, LFN"? I know there was a thread on AGS that linked to this data a while ago but I don’t know where it was and I believe it was for 2007. Regardless, whatever that number is, it’s possible to simply convert that exact number to schollies and use it to cover your entire team by dividing it up into as many partials as you would like. It’s understood by all that Georgetown has by far the lowest number of equivalencies … somewhere in the 20’s is what I’ve been told. Converting that money from need-based to scholarship will also allow them to spend their limited resources more wisely … or at least more as they see fit than the current system does as well.

So, again, what is Lehigh’s number of equivalencies and why does your budget need to change when you convert it to scholarships?

"lfnadmin" wrote: [quote="Lex"]2) and saying the two are the same is wrong. with a scholarship you don’t have to fill out all that paperwork including registering on 2 web sites. I know I’ve done it. it’s a pain in the ass and takes hours. it’s done that way purposely so parents give up. sort of like trying to return something at Home Depot. my case is a good example. I receive that crappy little Stafford LOAN – now, by Lehigh’s account, I receive fin aid. what a joke!

bottom line, in these economic times Gast (who is NOT a sports fan) is not going to "GIVE AWAY millions of $ to satisfy a few and risk pissing off many. (including donors) And like I said, Fordham will soon find out that no one cares about their demands (and they better be careful or they’ll become the next Iona)

If by Iona meaning they may discover that life as an FCS independent could precipitate a few years toiling as an independent before discovering that it’s not worth it to the University, there is that (unlikely) possibility. More likely, though, another conference would offer them an invite.

You are right, though, that scholarships as pursued by the rest of FCS and the equivalency game pursued by the PL is different. And having to go through the aid office does indeed turn some people off from joining the PL.[/quote] Yeah, Lex is correct that filling out the aid forms is a much, much bigger pain in the butt than simply getting a scholarship but somehow he’s drawing the conclusion that this is a reason to NOT go scholarship when it’s actually one of the positives.

[RichHParticipant]

Lex,

I truly am hard put to understad your venom. I have 2 kids at Lehigh now. One playing football. He receives approx. 1/2 grant in aid. I spoke withhim last night. Your estimates of kids receiving aid are way off. prob. somewhere around 20 or so getting full or close to full package. Quite a few more are paying 4,000 to 8000 in tuition. Not bad for a school like Lehigh. Yes , the aid forms are a royal pain in the butt. No need grants will solve that problem. I would lovetoget that much w/o the for.ms My daughter sings and dances, some aid but not as much. Tried to get her to play football w/o much success. AH, WELL

[colorless-raiderParticipant]

My son was full pay lacrosse Lex. When Lehigh gets scholarships your son can move further down the bench. The Lehigh posters are right you are a bitter dude.

[LexParticipant]

Brainless Raider,

I asked what college FOOTBALL you or your son played for. Follow me on this,ok?

and Lacrosse doesn’t count…..it’s the ‘sport’ that was invented for kids who can’t hit a baseball.

[ngineerParticipant]

On the contrary…baseball was invented about 200 years after lacrosse, which the settlers could never get a handle on
However, if the PL "really" expects to be able to compete consistently with the ‘big powers’ of FCS (CAA and SoCon) going to scholarship as opposed to need-based grants is the only way. We’re not looking to spend more (proportionately to current cost), but to be free of the income formula restrictions. It will increase to available talent pool significantly and, likely, increase the academic profile of the team. The wrestling team’s academic profile increased significantly since going to scholarships. If the PL does not go this route it will become irrelevant like the Ivy League. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ‘cashe’ of the Ivies to accept such a trade off.

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