slorunner

This is my understanding of the rule. Was curious how long this has been the rule, whether it has ever been challenged and whether it is likely to change. Thanks

Thanks for the response. For the sake of argument say my child is considering a Div. II school like Baylor or McCallie. I understand that they can play varsity athletics if they get only "need based" financial aid but not if they get a merit/academic scholarship. It is correct that to detemine whether family/child is eligible for need based aid financial information is submitted to a national review service that then reports to the school. Merit/academic scholarship is treated differently-say for example the child is offered a 50% merit/academic scholarship with no "need based" financial aid-in that situation the student cannot play varsity sports other than non TSSAA sports like lacrosse and crew. Trying to understand the history or rationale for the rule in that type of situation and anything that might be in line to change or alter the rule.

TSAAA has a rule that prohibits students that are getting merit/academic scholarships from playing varsity sports. I assume the reasoning is that these scholarships could be used to recruit athletes rather than for academic purposes. Is this correct? Seems to be a harsh rule given the relatively small number of these types of scholarships that are offered. I think it would be reasonable to review the awards on an individual basis to determine whether it was truly realated to academics or not. Current rule penalizes a good student that may also be a good athlete. Has this rule been challenged in the past or is there any likelihood that it may change in the future? New to all this and just trying to figure out the rationale for the rule-if there is one.