School me on Jr college.

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Jun 27, 2018
291
28
Just wondering about scholarships and how the process works with Jr college


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Just wondering about scholarships and how the process works with Jr college

There is a huge variance in JUCO across the country. So it is going to depend a lot on location and what level of JUCO you are talking about. Technically JUCO are allowed to fund 24 FULL scholarships. Some fund 24, some fund 0, some a few or most. There is very little limit to recruiting, how often they play, etc, etc, so it very much dependent on the commitment the school has and the commitment the coach has to making the team great. There is also 3 divisions of JUCO softball and you can imagine that Division 3 JUCO softball is alarmingly bad for the most part (though even then the top teams in Illinois and the NewYork/New Jersey area are not awful)

Even within a state it is widely varied.

Take for example Florida where JUCO softball ranges from:
- ~5-7 nationally ranked teams that are basically young D1 teams and are full of kids who decided to stay closer to home, didn't have the grades or wanted a free two-years of college paid for.
- A couple of teams that couldn't win a 14U-B rec league.

There are some fantastic programs in Florida which makes JUCO education really attractive including the 2+2 program which guarantees that if you graduate a Florida JUCO that you WILL be admitted to one of the 4-year state schools if you want to finish your Bachelors there. That is awesome. Going to a JUCO in Florida no longer has any stigma attached to it.

In particular, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa have some fully funded programs that compete nationally and are well respected. In some areas JUCO is looked down on - and in some areas that may even be appropriate. It is all over the place.

BTW, none of this really applies to California which have their own thing going and I am not as knowledgeable about it.

Lastly - as the players turn over every two years, a committed coach can turn a program around REAL quick if they want to or the university decides it wants to. The closest one to me has been a joke since my DD first started softball. And I mean averaging 2 wins per season for several years. Last season they hired a young go-getter coach who gives a lot of softball lessons locally for the past 4 or so years since she graduated college - this year they will be in the top two of their conference because she has kept a bunch of talent local.
 
Jun 27, 2018
291
28
The school that I am inquiring about is in one of those Midwest states you listed. It says NJCAA Div 1. I didn’t really know what that meant or what it was in comparison to. They seem interested in my daughter. She is researching the school to see if it would be somewhere she would like to attend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Apr 17, 2012
806
18
Wi
Div 1 juco is like D1 college they can fund everything. Tuition room and board books etc. D2 juco cannot fund room and board. D3 juco does not give athletic scholarships. Thats my understanding of the njcaa. Daughter has toured a couple schools. Really liked everything about one school but dd did not like the coach.

Sent from my LGLS775 using Tapatalk
 
Feb 17, 2015
318
18
USA
My DD went to a JUCO in Kansas. It was a D1 JUCO in the Jayhawk Conference. At the time, 2015-2017, the JUCO's in Kansas offered full book and tuition scholarships however room,board and the fees were on the student. As far as practices go there were no real limits. They started practicing a couple days after school started and lasted until the end of October or early November. They played a about a 20-25 game fall schedule. After the fall schedule they started the weights and conditioning. A typical day started at 5:30 to 6 AM with the weights/conditioning. Then breakfast. Then shower and morning classes. Lunch followed then you had your afternoon classes. Practice was at 3PM or so. After practice you had dinner then study hall. Generally after 8PM was your free time. Now this varied depending on the student and their class schedule. You just have to be careful that the student was taking the right classes that would transfer. My DD had teammates that succumbed to the academic pressures and took classes that were easy credits but didn't transfer to 4 year schools. One of the classes I heard about was a disc golf class. The girls got an associates degree but when a couple of them transferred to the state schools they were essentially academic sophomores.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
The school that I am inquiring about is in one of those Midwest states you listed. It says NJCAA Div 1. I didn’t really know what that meant or what it was in comparison to. They seem interested in my daughter. She is researching the school to see if it would be somewhere she would like to attend.

Academics first, softball record over time second - NJCAA has a website with rankings, results, records, etc, etc. If she is interested in transferring to a four year school to keep playing after her 2 years at the JUCO she should be checking how many girls from previous teams successfully accomplished that. You should also be checking where are all graduates from this school headed to to finish their bachelors? Do they have 4 year programs in house (some JUCO's do).

NJCAA

JUCO is the right place and decision for many, many girls. Do your research as you would any college. If she is not going to be happy there if softball wasn't an option, she 99% likely wont be likely to be happy there with softball.
 
Jun 27, 2018
291
28
I will research. I did not know where to check. Thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
So here's a little bit I've figured out just on the research end of things.

Search "[School Name] Softball" on YouTube. You may find some games of theirs online. It can give you an idea of the level of play.

If that school doesn't have games, look for other teams in their conference. Search them on YouTube. Combining that with some research on recent records can help give you a general idea.

You should also browse the school's site. For some, the softball page is basically just a page. Others do press releases when players sign, etc. That can give you an idea of how important the program is at that particular school.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,478
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top