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Introduction
Title IX has made hundreds of college rowing scholarships available for women rowers, and recently some colleges have even begun to offer scholarships to a select few of their men's rowers, also. Who gets these scholarships, and how do those rowers get noticed by the college coaches where others do not? What type of athelete is the college coach looking for? Can non-rowers really have a chance at a rowing scholarship? What NCAA regulations impact a high school student hoping to row in college? This page is devoted to resources which help answer those questions.
College Rowing Scholarships Book
"College Rowing Scholarships" is a book written by parents and rowers who have successfully gone through the recruiting process and received NCAA rowing scholarhips at Division I colleges and Universities. It can save dozens of hours of personal research, highlighting the NCAA regulatory traps for the unwary, letting you know how to get the attention of college rowing coaches, and describing what the rower should be looking for when they decide which college to attend. The book has been newly updated for the 2008-2008 season. You can order the book here and receive it within just a few days. The book comes with a 30-day, money-back gurantee.
Click Here for More Info.
Univ. of Cincinnati Cancel's Women's Varsity Rowing Program
Bucking the trend over the past decade, the Univ. of Cincinnati announced in March that it was canceling its NCAA women's varsity rowing program. Instead, the school will offer women's lacrosse as a varsity sport instead. Thus Cincinnati joins Rutgers and the Univ. of New Hampshire in canceling rowing as a NCAA sport. But Cincinnati may be a special case. It didn't have a boathouse due to site problems, and plans to build one across the Ohio river in Kentucky were complicated by funding issues. A number of women rowers filed a Title IX suit against the University, saying they were not offered equivilant resources as were men's sports. Within the year the a Cincinnati assistant rowing coach resigned, it's head coach Tim Royalty was fired, and then the University canceled the program entirely. For more discussions on the subject: Questions Arise Concerning Change of UC Rowing Coach, and Rowing Deserves Varsity Label
Beware of Scholarship Scams
With all the money involved in obtaining a higher education, there are always a few people who are trying to take advantage of others. This article discusses complaints against companies that offer "scholarship services", promising to obtain scholarships and grants to students in return for an up-front fee (MSNBC August 15, 2007).
College Scholarship Limitations Face Legal Challeng
A federal district court judge has allowed an antitrust suit to proceed against the NCAA, alleging that the limitations on the number of college football scholarships is illegal. The suit was brought by a former walk-on football player for the University of Washington, who alleged that the NCAA practice is a monopolistic attempt to control costs and thereby increase revenues for its members. The former player, Andy Carroll, notes that although walk-ons are not promised a scholarship, in practice they are led to believe that they could earn one by performance on the field. However, in practice scholarships are not given to walk-ons, as the limited number available will be reserved for use to recruit new players. (Rowing Note: If the football scholarship quota is deemed illegal, what effect will that have on women's rowing programs that were established to comply with Title IX?)
NCAA Loophole - Delaying High School Graduation
Some colleges are advising recruits with low grade point averages to delay graduating from High School. Once a player graduates, their G.P.A. is "frozen" for NCAA eligibility purposes, but until they graduate they may re-take classes at any school (including special prep schools) to raise their average (Washington Post, 27July2004).
NCAA Proposes More Limits on Official Visits
The NCAA Management Council will propose restrictions on perks for recruits during official visits, including limiting use of private jets, resort hotels, extravegant meals, boat rides, scoreboard presentations, and other such perks (Seattle Times, July 20, 2004).
Rowing Best Sport for Walk-On Scholarships
"Although an increasing number of college rowers pulled oars on club or high-school crews, latecomers to the sport still are given a careful look by coaches. They use rowing-machine tests and strength tests to measure potential. Women who make the junior varsity (second eight) at a school such as Washington or Washington State usually get some financial aid." (Seattle Times, May 18, 2004).
NCAA Considers Penalizing Schools with Poor Graduation Rates
The NCAA is considering imposing sanctions on college sports programs with poor graduation rates (Seattle Times, 08Oct2003). Aside: Perhaps this will lead to a move to make men's rowing an NCAA sport, as rowers typically have much higher graduation rates than other sports.
Women's Group Puts 30 Schools on Title IX Notice
The National Women's Law Center on Tuesday released a list of 30 colleges it says fail to give female athletes a fair share of athletic scholarship dollars as required by Title IX.(USA Today 19June2002)
Scholarship Distribution at NCAA Div. I Schools
From the Seattle Times, April 13, 2003:
"Q: Do you think high-school students and their parents realize that full scholarships in most college sports are rare and that most athletes get only partial scholarships?
A: No. I think most kids and parents think a scholarship means a full ride, which it does in basketball and football. Here is how many scholarships each Division I school divides: Men — baseball, 11.78, track 11.69 (includes cross-country athletes); golf, 4.5; soccer 9.9; swimming 9.9; tennis 4.5. Women — track, 18 (includes cross-country); golf, 6; rowing, 20 (rowing isn't a men's NCAA sport); soccer, 12; swimming, 14; gymnastics, 12; tennis, 8; volleyball, 12. Did you notice that women get more scholarships than men in all sports where both sexes have teams? Reason? Title IX. It's an effort to make up the gap caused by football, which has 85 scholarships."
Luke Huard's Experiences Show Need for Caution re: Rowing Scholarships and Transfers
Luke Huard is a football player and youngest of three famous brothers from Puyallup High. But his football career ran aground at North Carolina due to coaching changes, injuries, and health problems, and the NCAA disqualified him after he transferred to a Div. II school. His story serves as a cautionary tale to those considering college rowing scholarships and especially those considering transfering schools (Seattle Times Nov. 8, 2002).
Letters of Intent and "Gray Shirting"
Letters of Intent still carry a lot of weight, here is another example from football of what might be an unsuccesful attempt to circumvent a letter of intent by "Gray-Shirting" (attending school only part-time). Seattle Times, 1/15/03.
Discussion Board Link
Discuss topics of interest with your rowing buddies - post topics, reply to others already posted, ask questions! Some of the current topics include:
- What erg scores are college coaches looking for in women rowers?
- Does your high school support rowing? (Do regattas count as excused absences, etc).
- Can a short rower still get a college scholarship?
NCAA Eligibility & Publications
The official NCAA site which discusses eligibility issues and allows you to order publications, such as the "NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete".
NCAA Clearinghouse
Click on this site to register as a prospective student-athelete or to check your eligiblity status.
IRow.com
This site allows you to post your erg score where it can be seen by college coaches who register for the site.
How to Win a Sports Scholarship
We haven't had a chance to study this book yet, but the table of contents seems to cover the major areas.
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