[QUOTE="Rikfran, post: 60368, member: 932" - There is concept in the tax law called "substance over form". Yes. It is not called athletic scholarships. It's called financial aid. But I can guarantee you that a lot of the stud football players and basketball players would not be in the various schools and not on financial aid if they did not play sports. In substance, they are athletic scholarships.[/QUOTE]
Rikfan - if you say it and believe it then it must be true, right? This debate has come up every year I've been on here and I took the time to research it thoroughly through the schools in which the systems are specifically set up to prevent exactly what you are saying from taking place: "stud football players & basketball players would..not be on finaicial aid if they did not play sports".
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here is an excerpt from a discussion with a person on a WCAL finance committee a few years ago.
The private schools do not "recruit" their athletes; although it's common knowledge that the coaches do "look around" but the coaches have nothing to do with admissions or financial assistance.
No student is at a high school on an athletic scholarship - it is illegal. Any money given to a student is in the form of assistance which is based strictly on the family's needs. When the application goes before the Finance Committee, nothing comes into play about the student including how good of an athlete they are. The only thing looked at is the family's financial needs (they have to supply their tax returns, and fill out an application which asks a lot of personal questions about their income, expenses, etc. ).
There is no such thing at the high school level as a "scholarship". All money given is "assistance".
Because the private schools all have a large applicant pool, they can be picky on who they accept. There is an "Admissions Committee" and also a "Finance Committee". The Admission Comm decides who is accepted or not, depending on their grades, testing, and referrals from their elementary school. The Finance Committee decides who receives assistance based on their need - this committee does not see the admissions applications which shows their grades, etc. The only thing looked at by the Finance Commiittee is the family's financial status. Each year with the cost of tuition and other related expense increasing the number of families seeking financial assistance is increasing.
There are many stories out there about ahtletic scholarships, but people just like to talk about why one team is better than another & this argument always adds spice to the discussions.
