The real net cost of an offer
A "60% scholarship" can cost more than a "25% scholarship." Here's the math nobody walked you through.
Offers feel like prestige. They're actually pricing.
The right number isn't the percentage. It's the net cost: total cost of attendance, minus athletic aid, minus academic aid, minus need-based aid, minus outside scholarships. That's the number your family will write checks against for four years.
A private D3 with no athletic money can come in cheaper than a public D1 with a partial — once academic aid and institutional grants are layered in. A "head count" sport like football D1 is different from "equivalency" math at D2 or FCS. The headline percentage hides all of it.
Before you compare two offers, build the same four-line worksheet for each: cost of attendance, athletic aid, academic and institutional aid, expected family contribution. Then talk. Excitement is fine. Excitement plus the worksheet is a decision.