I am pretty sure, but not positive, that some (if not all) of the football scholarships are endowed.

IMO alumni would NOT support a reduced emphasis in Athletics. The athletes who are alumni give a lot of money, probably a lot of it to their sport. So, maybe the non athletics alumni should take it upon themselves to donate to what was most important to them, while they were at the College. The football building? private donations. New lights? private donations. New scoreboard? private donations.

W&M has far and away the most conference championships in the CAA. Our student athletes compete academically and athletically at the highest level. They graduate at a higher rate than almost all athletes across the country, and at a higher rate than the general student population at the College. And they get real degrees, and then they give back to the College that made them who they are. W&M is a model for the entire country to see how student athletics should be done.

While they are here, student athletes put W&M on the map more than green fees, california constitutional amendment protests, canceling class to sit in the sunken gardens, rallying in support of a lame-duck President (who was a HUGE athletic supporter) who took parting shot after parting shot at the institution that we all love, a concert in the UC, an utterly terrible guitarist/vocalist trying to get a record deal, protesting new dorms on Barksdale, getting rid of trays at the Caf, etc.

To the person complaining about the hot tub… if you had a little extra money from a scholarship that you could pool together with your friends, would you have done something cool with it? Or sent it back to the Bursar’s office? That’s what I thought.

If all students put as much time and effort into their time at the College that the student athletes do, W&M would be a much better place. And complaining for days because you got a ‘B’ on an exam does not count as putting time/effort into something.

not an athlete… just a fan. Go Tribe! (everyone should be at the VCU game on Saturday)

I feel that many people out there believe that all W&M student-athletes are on full scholarship. In actuality, only a percentage of them are. The NCAA has scholarship limits for each sport and coaches are allowed to divide those scholarships however they see fit. (Scholarship limits can be found at NCAA.org) For example, one sport may have 9 scholarships and 25 roster spots. Some of those student athletes may get a full scholarship, some may get partials, and others nothing. SO remember, just because a student here is an athlete, does not meen they are on a full ride, they may be paying as much or more than another student, but has to work harder and longer.

Many people have a problem with slots for athletes. I can understand with that. But the statistics show that W&M student athlete. once here do extremely well. The most recent release of data by the NCAA shows W&M 4th in the country for APR. The 3 schools higher are all Ivys. W&M is the top public institution and the top program that offers Athletic Scholarships (Ivy League does not offer athletic aid). This data also shows that 96% of student athletes graduate within 5 years compared to the overall student body average of 86% in 5 years. In addition, 13 teams had graduation rates of 100%. In the last 10 years, 45 student athletes have been named to Phi Beta Kappa and 4 out of 5 of the College’s Rhodes Scholars since 1988 have been Student Athetes. Mens Gymanstics had the highest team GPA out of all teams in the country.

The College of William & Mary sponsors 23 sports at the Division 1 level. Since the inception of the CAA (our conference), W&M has won 94 CAA titles, next closest is JMU with 55. During the 2007-08 season, had 5 Conference Players of the Year, 5 Conference Scholar Athletes of the Year, including the CAA all sports Scholar athlete of the year, 18 All-Americans, 100 All Conference players. 2 current athletes competed at their respective Olympic Trials, Emily Anderson (Track) 1500m and Katie Radloff (Swimming) 50m and 100m. Also 2 Former athletes competed at trials, Kathy Newberry and Ed Moran (both Tack), both of which are current W&M Coaches.

W&M has hosted numerous CAA championships as well as NCAA championship events in Football, Womens Tennis and tomorrow night Mens Soccer will host Winthrop in the first round of NCAA.

In response to a comment below that the athletics fee doesn’t go to the rec and IM sports, that is incorrect. The fee is an “Athletics Fee” which goes to club, IM and varsity sports (not necessarily to the Rec Center as a center but to the programs they put on). Additionally, if W&M went Division II or III, I could assure you that would be almost catastrophic to our beloved university. You may think we’d save money by not spending as much on athletics, which may be true, but there’d be less money to spend because of the loss of fundraising due to athletics.

And as far as scholarships, EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR of athletic aid is privately funded.

And I don’t call non-athletes Civilians. I prefer Twamp (typical william and mary student) which is not a derogatory term because the typical w&m student is an outstanding human being!

Athlete alums (particularly football, so get off their case!) give back WAY MORE to our school more than non-athlete alums do. Start complaining about where the money goes when you actually contribute. Also, a lot of you non-athletes call us JOCKS. This is completely inaccurate and unfair to generalize in such a way. ‘Jocks’ has a negative connotation. ‘Regular’ student does not. Not doing anything for the school? Women’s tennis has won 20 CAA championships in the last 23 years. Also the 2010 class was ranked 2nd in the nation in the recruitment ranks. Please explain how our consistent performance doesn’t do anything for the reputation of the school? If our performance doesn’t deserve a scholarship (after working so much on playing/training in the junior circuit), fine. Just look at our academics: our team currently has the highest GPA of all the varsity teams, with over 60% of the girls with a 3.4 GPA or higher, and everyone above the 3.0 level.

Finally, the amount of hours and work ALL athletes put in doesn’t fit with a DII or DIII. We train and compete like DI athletes, and therefore should be DI athletes. I’m not complaining about how much work I have. Why should others complain about the benefits I get from working my ass off?

There was a house of football players in the midlands last year who used their “extra” scholarship money to buy a hot tub. Their rent was cheaper than the school thought it was, so they pooled that money together and bought a hot tub. a fucking 3 grand hot tub.

An athlete is no different than any other student who found a way to offset the cost of college. However, there are not many aid opportunities that require so much in return. The travel, practice, training and competition obligations are only getting more demanding for college athletes. It’s not surprising athletes have very little time or energy to get involved in non-athletic endeavors on campus.
Regarding the comment made about the female tennis and gymnastics squads, although the most prominent “public face” of Title IX is its impact on athletics, it may be helpful to know that Title IX does not apply only to sports. The original statute, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, made no reference to athletics. Athletics is only one of 10 key areas addressed by the law. The areas include:Access to Higher Education, Career Education, Education for Pregnant and Parenting studies, Employment, Learning Environment, Math & science, Sexual Harassment, Standardized Testing and Technology. Each year male athletes receive $137 million more than female athletes in college athletic scholarships at NCAA member institutions. These are the reasons the female tennis players and gymnasts are here to stay. It is the law.

There are lots of fees built into tuition, and I’m sure much of the money my family and I paid during my four years at the College went toward programs that I never used, and that’s fine with us. I’m sure there are programs that I used while at college that many did not, but still helped to fund, and I imagine it evens out for most students. The athletics fee is simply one among many fees that encapsulate tuition, but it just happens to be higher profile than most. I have no problem with athletes getting scholarships, so long as they are qualified to come to our prestigious school, and the difference in SAT scores almost always fall within the range the Admissions Office accepts for all other students. I agree with Carolyn in that we can’t blame the athletes for accepting the scholarships that are available to them. After all, they had to work hard in high school to earn them, both in class and on the field. If you’re so concerned about your money being used for athletics, take it up with the administration or, better yet, transfer to a school with no athletics.

I also agree with Carolyn that many athletes do self-segregate, although I can understand that they don’t have a whole lot of time to be branching out to the non-athletic community. What Barbara is asking for isn’t hero worship, as Ritchie suggests, but rather the respect that comes from not automatically assuming that a scholarship athlete isn’t worthy of being a student at the College. And not to pick on Ritchie, but if he knew Barbara, he would know how off base he is in his assertion that she is resentful in any way.

Hey Barb- I agree that students should be more supportive of student athletes at W&M. If people have a problem with the scholarship system in place they should take it up with the administration, not the athletes. Student athletes did what all high school seniors did— strove to highlight their strengths to various colleges with the hope of getting some financial support. I would also like to throw in that the divide between students and student athletes at W&M is a two-way street. The vast majority of varsity athletes certainly seem to keep to themselves and rarely mingle with “civilians”. It’s really too bad. I think both groups are only hurting themselves. Division is almost always the result of ignorance. Both sides need to suck it up and grow up a little bit.

Barbara, I do not think students are upset when someone such as Jake Phillips or David Schneider get scholarships. It is when the lesser known sports are given full rides for a majority of their athletes just because of Title IX. Is it really an aide to the student body to have an all expense paid women’s tennis program? Or a large portion of female gymnasts on scholarship as well? Certainly some money towards lesser known programs is okay, but someone who plays sparingly and never becomes a force on the team, even as a senior, should not be fully funded.

Only 90-95, not 111? Wish I had known that…

As for the tense relationships between athletes and civilians that you alluded to, instead of chastising the twams (typical william and mary students, as many athletes refer to US as) maybe the athletes should take the lead in formulating the relationship. After all, you are here on a free ride.

Are we supposed to worship you? In high school maybe the top athletes were the ‘cool’ kids, but students at the College see a bigger purpose in life. Athletics are fun to watch, but how many WM students go on to support themselves in life through athletics? Few.

Finally, your tone miss represents your entire message. The way you write, there is an obvious deep seeded resentment/issue in your words. It overpowered your article and made it much less effective.

As for it not being easy to balance your schedule, suck it up, you are here for FREE. I pay over $35K a year. I dont want to hear your moaning. If you dont like the work load quit.

just because athletes work hard does not mean that they deserve a scholarship. Seriously, it is not fair that students pay $5,000 during their time here to an athletics program which few people care about, and does little for the school. The money could be better spent on academics, or for the budget shortfall. Also, unless they receive special permission, non-athletes aren’t even allowed to use Athletics Department fields, even if it is just running laps on the new track.

“I would lastly like to emphasize to civilians that being a scholarship athlete on this campus is not easy. “

Civilians?? Perhaps some of the resentment you have encountered stems from your elitist tone and clear sense of entitlement?

Non-athletes complain about slots and athletic scholarships like out of state students complain about in state tuition. You have a choice: instead of paying out of state tuition, you could have gone to a public school in your own state. The same goes with athletic scholarships: you could have worked hard in a sport in high school to get an athletic scholarship.

As for athletic slots, plenty of non-athletes gain entry to the school in the same manner due to their socioeconomic status. With respect to the athletic fee, lots of other fees in my tuition go towards school programs that I do not take advantage of.

At William and Mary, I spent four years as an undergrad and my first year of grad school as a student-athlete on scholarship. I agree: If you want to be a successful student-athlete, you can’t have much of a social life. More to the point, if you want a social life, you can’t expect to compete effectively at the DI level. During my five years of eligibility, there wasn’t time for much else except practice, class, schoolwork, and lots of sleep. I also found that my approach to combining athletics and academics during my eligibility has really helped my performance as a grad student. Working with a time budget really helps in getting things done.

We aren’t weird or nerdy because of the lack of social life. We are focused and disciplined and the experience leaves us better prepared for life after undergrad and athletic competition.