The Scholarship Number Isn't the Number That Matters

A parent sent me the numbers from a US college soccer offer this week.

There was a big discount in there. The sort of number that makes you stop and think, Hang on, this could actually work.

But before I told them what I thought, I wanted to know something much less exciting:

What will your family actually pay?

That sounds obvious. It often isn't.

A coach might talk about scholarship money. An admissions team might talk about academic aid. The college might quote tuition in one place and housing somewhere else. By the time a family has read three emails and had two calls, everyone can be using a different number and think they're discussing the same thing.

I see how easily it happens. The family is excited. The coach is excited. The athlete is picturing themselves there. Nobody wants to be the person who slows the conversation down to ask about fees.

That person needs to be you.

Start with the whole bill

When an Australian family looks at an offer, I want the full annual cost in writing. Not just tuition.

What does tuition cost? What are the compulsory fees? What will housing and food cost under the option the athlete is actually likely to choose? Are books, health insurance and other expenses included in that estimate, or sitting outside it?

Then we look at every piece of funding the student has actually been offered and subtract it from those costs.

The result is the number that belongs on the kitchen table: the family's expected out-of-pocket cost.

I'd still budget separately for things like flights home and the costs of getting established in the US. An offer can be affordable on paper and still put pressure on a family if those expenses haven't been considered.

Then ask what happens next year

Here's the part that's easy to miss when the first offer arrives.

Does the funding cover one semester, one academic year or more? If it needs to be renewed, what are the conditions? Does the athlete need to maintain a particular academic standard? Is any part of the package still dependent on an admissions decision or assessed results?

I don't ask those questions because I expect a problem. I ask because a family needs to know which parts of the plan are confirmed and which parts are still an expectation.

That matters enormously if continuing without the scholarship wouldn't be financially possible.

Compare offers using the same questions

Two schools can both sound generous and leave families with very different bills. Equally, the school offering the biggest headline scholarship might not be the best value.

Before we compare programs, I want each school on one page:

• The total cost for the same period, in US dollars
• The confirmed athletic and academic funding
• The expected amount the family pays
• What that estimate includes and excludes
• How long the funding lasts
• What must happen for it to continue

Only then can we have the bigger conversation about the coach, the football, the degree and where the athlete will be happiest.

I don't want a family choosing a school purely because it's cheaper. I also don't want them falling in love with a school before discovering the numbers only work for the first semester.

The right offer has to make sense on the pitch, in the classroom and at home.

If your son or daughter has an offer and you're not sure what the numbers mean, get the full breakdown in writing before you commit. You don't have to feel awkward asking. It's your family's money and your child's future.

John Stevanja Upper 90 College