College decisions...

[LRH1969]

Florida someplace?

NAIA lets teams that field a JV and V team more money for scholarships and lets them pay additional coaching.
Most of the Florida NAIA schools that do this have a pretty strong JV schedule - 15 or so games in Fall and then 20+ games within the regular season. No post season, but a solid number of games to keep a large roster happy especially if you throw in some varsity games as well.

If done well, they don't lose as many players as people might think - especially edge V/JV players as there is playing time and games for them - not just practice and waiting for one of the starting Varsity players to get injured or have a bad run of form.

Is there some 'seat filling' for the college here - absolutely. You will also carefully figure out how much money is not covered in this scenario as this is way more important than the scholarship dollars themselves. Some of these NAIA school are private and not cheap. Also it will give you an idea of where your daughter stands - the more it covers, the more that the coaches actually think of her. #1 varsity pitcher is paying close to nothing - #35 rostered player who is only ever going to be on JV is getting close to nothing.

I am a big fan of both JUCO and NAIA in Florida. The level of play at the top of the conferences is really strong, lots of Florida girls get to continue to play the game - especially those who want to stay close to home, and most of the schools are solid academically. Florida has huge amounts of softball talent - and not enough D1 or D2 schools for players to stay in state and play, NAIA gives these players some great options.

Missouri actually, I have a feeling its all about filling seats. As far as I know the coach has never seen her play? But if you look her up she has enough online presence and accolades that he should know she is decent.

 

[LRH1969]

What’s the goal here? Is it to play softball. Go to school for as close to free as possible, or is it to get a specific degree in order to get into a specific type of career path.

Without knowing these things it’s hard to advise. Softball will end for your dd in the next 1-5 years. Life goes on for another (hopefully) 60 or more years.

Her chosen profession limits us to a small number of NAIA and JUCO's. Within our state (missouri), there is only a handful of schools that offer the education she wants and also offers softball. We ranked the schooling first and softball second. This was her first offer, but she might get others. I might add this school was our #1 choice for education, but also is the most expensive......funny how that works.

 

[mmeece]

I might add this school was our #1 choice for education, but also is the most expensive......funny how that works.

I made a reply earlier, but I'll add to this as well. While my dd had a significant scholarship to an NAIA school, it still wasn't what I'd call cheap. However, it allowed her to attend a school we simply wouldn't have been able to consider without the scholarship.