How the non-D1-FBS scholarship process works

Okay, so today I'm going to break down the non D1 FBS scholarship process because it's completely different from the group of five and the Power four programs, how they do things. And you need to be ready for that if you are going to get recruited at those levels. Even if you expect to get recruited at FBS level, this is still good knowledge to have. And the reason I'm sharing this with you is because I'm Trent Loara, I'm a former college quarterback, I played at the NI level, I went through the junior college process, I was recruited by non D1FBS schools and I've worked with over 50 families. And I just want you to have this knowledge so that we can be prepared going into this stuff and that ultimately hopefully you'll work with me and join scholarship accelerator. So that is my whole reason why I'm doing this. And so let's dive into this and what the D1 FPS scholarship process looks like. So first off, it's different because number one, non D1 FBS programs can offer partial scholarships. Now this is something that not a lot of people understand and that at the FBS level they can only offer full rides. It's 85 full ride scholarships. And then after that, once you get down to the FCS level, it's 63 scholarships. They can be broken up into partials though they'll still offer full rides. At the D2 level, it's even less than that. I believe it's 36 off the top of my head right now. And then D3 offers zero athletic scholarships. That's a very important thing to know. And then NAA offers about think 24. And they can also be broken up into partial though. Important thing to note is they don't cover room and board. So if you're getting offered, it's only based on tuition. So with that being said, it is extremely, extremely rare to receive a full ride at an FCS and below program. Especially when you get to NIA D2, those are extremely rare to get a full ride. So just knowing that if you get a full ride from those schools, that is a big deal and you should not take that lightly. Now with that being said, you may be like, okay, well I got offered by D2 and I don't even know if I get a full ride. So something to note about those processes is they will offer you maybe early on, maybe during your season, maybe before your season even starts, but they can't offer you an official offer. And it looks differently than the D1FBS programs. Because when the D1FBS program offers you, you immediately know number one, it's a full ride number one. And I'll give you an official offer letter later down the line. But that just means like, hey, we're officially extending that offer. Just a formality thing. But the D2 level and the FCS level and below, it's more than formality because they need to give you that official offer packet. That was a big thing that if you're just going through the recruiting process, if you haven't gone through it before, then you don't really know about this. And so this is a big thing is you're going to get this official offer breakdown packet. It's going to have your full breakdown as far as what scholarships you're getting. Because it might not just be athletic, usually won't just be athletic. And you'll be getting academic money, maybe you'll be getting some other scholarships from the school that they can offer you and offer you more aid. And so they'll give you a full breakdown of that as well as the cost, what the room and board is going to be, what's the tuition, and also if you're going to be taking loans and whatnot, that's usually a general question that coaches will ask you. So that way they can put that together in the packet and give you a good idea of what, what your out of pocket cost is going to be. And this is a big deal, the out of pocket cost, because your out of pocket cost is literally what's going to be coming out of your pocket to pay for the school. And so hopefully your goal is to get it near zero as possible. If you can get to zero, awesome. If you can't, not a big deal. You're just trying to get to near as zero as possible. You're going to be paying less for school throughout the year and everything like that. And so that's why the scholarships are there, that's why they give you that breakdown to give you an idea of what that out of pocket costs. Now some things to be aware of when they give you this breakdown is you want to go through it thoroughly, see exactly what's going on there, what scholarships you're getting. Take note of all that and have a good idea because sometimes they'll leave in, let's say for me, I knew I was going to get loans, so I always mentioned that. But sometimes they'd include it in the breakdown and if you weren't paying close attention, you'd be like, that's basically $7,000, like sometimes where they're shaving off, like out of pocket costs, but in reality, it's loans that are showing up there that I'm not going to take. So if I wasn't paying attention to that, I essentially would be expecting to save myself $7,000. And then when I showed it to campus, I'm gonna have to pay that because I'm not expecting to pay loans. That's a big, big deal. And so you want to be aware of that stuff and know what is my actual out of pocket cost. Okay. If I'm gonna take loans. Okay, well, hey, I know this is gonna happen and that's gonna take care of it, but being aware of that is a big, big deal. So number one's official offer packet. Now, the thing is, you won't get that immediately. If you got a D2 offer, you got an NA offer already at this point, pretty early on, then you're not going to be able to get an official offer pack until November, December, even January, because they don't know who's staying, who else they're going to bring on. They don't have an idea of how much money they can offer you. So you're going to have to wait to get those numbers. And this is a huge indication of how much they really like you. Because if school gives you the official offer packet and they're offering you a lot of money like you expected or like it seemed like it was going to be in the first place, then you know, hey, that they might not be interested in you or it just might be, hey, we're not able to give you a lot of money for this position, whatever, but you do have to kind of realize that and figure out, okay, well, what's really going on here? And these things are negotiable. So that's something to note as well. It's like, just because they give you this official offer breakdown doesn't mean anything's put down like solidified. You can, you can negotiate this. You can let them know, hey, I need my out of pocket cost to be this number. Hey, what can I do to lower my out of pocket costs? Or hey, are you guys willing to give me more money? And they will, you know, you can negotiate that back and forth. These numbers are not solid. So those are just some things I want to share about the non D1 FBS scholarship process. Normally you'll get these official offer packets and you'll go through this process again. November, December, January. Usually when you go on your official visit they'll present this to you and try to close you there so that way they can get everything solid. But just know, just because they're saying, hey, you know, we want you to commit, you need to commit today, does not mean you need to commit anything. Be sure to be prepared when you walk into that stuff and you know what's going on ahead of time and you have a clear game plan so that way you don't get caught off guard and make a decision they're going to end up regretting later. So hopefully you got something from this content. If you did, be sure to subscribe for more and I will see you guys in the next one. Peace.