Thank you for your question. Yes, I work with students who live in regions other than Tacoma, Olympia, and South Puget Sound. COVID makes working online the best way to keep my students, their families, and me safe while we work together to find colleges and post-secondary opportunities that fit their needs. I am able to provide the same first class service at a distance as I provide in person.

Thanks again for your inquiry, and don't hesitate to let me know if you have other questions or concerns.

Matt Burns

The number of scholarships that may be offered (varying by the governing organization and the division) is limited by the governing organization itself (NCAA, NAIA, or NJCAA).  As that is the case, no school within the same division could offer more scholarships (in total) than this limit.  However, each school's athletic department could potentially budget less than the maximum allotment to swimming specifically.  Swimming is considered an "equivalency" sport, which means that the limit of scholarships (in total) may be distributed to as many athletes as each program desires, so it is much more common for schools to offer partial scholarships to a larger number of athletes.  Here is a link to a great reference summarizing this information (Swimming Scholarships in College).  The bottom line is that the number of men's swimming scholarships offered at a college/university will be dependent on budget and the talent level of the "pool" of incoming recruits, which could vary from year to year.

When colleges offer swimming scholarships, they do so based upon their needs, considering the likelihood of recruits to make the team more competitive at every stroke and distance.  Therefore, from the perspective of the individual swimming recruit, the ability to obtain any scholarship money at all will always be based upon comparative athletic ability (times) and the likelihood of the swimmer to score points in competition for the prospective college team.  

It is relatively easy for a swimmer to determine how attractive he/she would be as a recruit.  Almost all college swim programs will post a list of their recent best times (not the all-time records) on their website.  If the swimmer's times for a given stroke and distance are within the top 3 recent top times, that swimmer could likely score points for the college team.  If the swimmer's times are near or better than the current swimmers on the college team, or if the current top times are held by seniors who will be leaving the program, there is a greater possibility of being offered a scholarship.

Hi Neena,

I just saw and responded to your email.  My services are less expensive through ECN, however they do limit us on time.  If you'd prefer to just continue our discussion via email that might be more convenient.  Otherwise, we can set a call up on ECN and you can share your questions and information with me as we meet.

Hi Tara,Those are many good questions! 

1- The time to start working with a consultant is as soon as your daughter is ready. While I have some students start as early as 9th grade, to help understand their interests and how to work on activities during the school year and summer, the ideal time for college work is now before junior year. This summer is a key time to begin exploring colleges (lots of ways to explore virtually), narrowing down her interests and majors, and diving deeper into key interests. Then, we can also discuss her testing options and work out her timeline between now and senior year with her college journey tasks. 

2- Yes, there are consultants who just work with financing, but many of us are well equipped to help you find colleges that help you with merit aid to reduce the cost, as well as assistance to help you understand college financing and the process. 

3- I am happy to discuss my services and fees, I have several different options, depending on how much guidance your daughter needs  - please feel free to email me a good time for us to talk: Audrey@Aroadmapforcollege.com. I'd be  happy to speak with you this week! 

Warmly,

Audrey Slaughter - A Roadmap for College

I do believe that the coronavirus will affect the students enrolling for the fall of 2020 as well as for those applying this fall for 2021.

Many colleges have pushed back their decision deadlines from the universal May 1 Candidate Reply Date to June 1 (or later). I think this will mean the colleges aren't going to have as good of a handle on their fall numbers as they typically have and summer "melt" (number of students who cancel enrollment) might be bigger than expected. Students who typically visit colleges in the spring will have to get by using virtual visits in order to make their decision. There have been some recent surveys that report more students are planning to stay closer to home in the fall. I see more uncertainty in decision-making from my students than in previous years in terms of where they will enroll.

The impact of students staying closer to home and taking longer to make their decisions will also impact the use of waitlists by the colleges. I think some colleges will go deeper into their waitlist than they have in previous years, which means students will have more options that come later in the spring and may affect initial decisions.

Financial aid offices are also going to receive more requests to review financial aid packages in light of families' changing financial situations due to the pandemic. I think finances will be an even bigger factor in where students end up enrolling this fall because of the economic crisis unfolding in our nation and the world.

As for current juniors who will apply to enroll in the fall of 2021, we are already seeing colleges making changes to their admission requirements for fall 2021. There are almost daily postings of colleges going test-optional for those applying for fall 2021 and in some cases, beyond. I think colleges that consider things like demonstrated interest will also need to make changes to how they assess interest in the admission process.

There are many more changes that could be unfolding in the upcoming months as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are so many unknowns at this time that both colleges and students will need to remain as flexible as possible.

Feel free to contact me for further information.

Thanks,

Cathy McMeekan