Actually, no...saying that expecting a full athletic scholarship is pretty unrealistic, so investing a lot in your kids playing sports just for that may not be a good idea — better to focus on their academics if you’re looking for scholarships.
If you want them to play sports because they enjoy it, go for it!
See if it was just the New York Times saying this, I would not believe it. :)
I've been down this road and the idea that sports scholarships are worth the investment in time or energy is pure BS. It's worse for male athletes in the non major sports. I've seen top swimmers with Olympic qualifying times get 1/4 scholarships.
We really didn't deal with scholarships because colleges also work with grants. They will determine how much money the student will need, then find applicable grants to cover that.
The grants are a substantial portion of the tuition.
Our child is also a good student. Athletic ability helps the admission process for a child. Rather than your application sitting in a pile with 20,000 others of equal ability, it is given a higher priority because it offers something to the college in return.
I was very impressed by the coaches who contacted us. We received a lot of information about academic strategies. Coaches are very concerned about academic ability and most contacted the high school guidance office to find out how good a student our athlete is before they decided to call.
It's not only athletics. Our child visited a school as an athletic recruit and was offered a placement by another department because of impressive language abilities.
If you have a have a child who displays a talent, regardless of whether it's athletic, musical, artistic, etc., it is really worth your effort to promote that with the goal of college placement in mind.
With good colleges, the most difficult part is getting in. If you are able to offer a talent in return your chances of going to a good school are greatly enhanced.