As a sophomore in high school, Julia* was going on an official visit to a school. She had been on multiple official visits before this one, but none of the schools had given her an offer yet. During this visit, Julia really liked the campus and the coach was super nice to her. However, she still wasn't getting the feeling that this school was the one for her. At the end of the visit, the coach sat her down and told her that they were going to give her a scholarship of a certain amount of money, and financial aid would cover the rest. Julia and her dad were thrilled. This meant that she could go to school on a full scholarship and graduate without any debt.

Because Julia didn't fall in love with the school, she needed some time to think over the offer. The coach told her that she had plenty of time to make a decision. However, when Julia arrived at her club practice later that week, her club coach gave her some different information. Her club coach told her that the college coach wanted her to give him a decision by the end of the week, which was obviously different from what the he had told her at the end of her visit.

This really took Julia off guard, but she ended up going home and talking it over with her family. She and her family came to the conclusion that with the amount of money they were offering her, it would be silly to pass it up. At the end of the week, Julia contacted her coach and told him that she would accept the offer!

Finally, the day came when Julia got her financial aid package. However, it was not as much money as the coach told her she would get. Turns out, she was not going to be getting anything close to a full ride. This meant that her family wouldn't be able to afford the school and Julia would have to take out loans. Julia was not expecting to have to do this, which really upset her because she chose the school primarily because of the money.

Julia ended up still going to the school and loving it, but if she had known that she wouldn't have gotten the scholarship that the coach promised, she might not have made the decision to go there.

Make sure you look out for warning signs when you are on recruiting visits. Grand promises aren't always followed through.

*Name changed for anonymity.