March/April Update:

The Full Measure of Opportunity

This month, I would like to talk about an experience that was transformative for me as a professional and might be for your student: small college athletics. It is an interesting time for small colleges: it’s a surprisingly robust and diverse system. Colleges with fewer than 1000 students make up about 30-40% of 4-year colleges by number of institutions but serve less 2% of full-time undergraduate students by enrollment (based on IPEDS numbers for 2024). This entire ecosystem is largely invisible to families and even many college advisors. For the right students, including aspiring student-athletes, these small schools provide life affirming and/or life changing opportunities – ones that they can miss out on evaluating without knowledgeable and timely advice!

As you might expect, given that 98% of folks go to larger colleges, a lot of ink is spilled talking down about these small schools. One zombie idea is that because they don’t have a million dollars per student in endowment money, these schools are all about to disappear and go bankrupt (there’s a clickbait driven panic about this every 5 years or so). The reality is that most colleges are businesses and there is not anything inherently unstable about depending on your primary business to generate revenue. The idea that a level of endowment or endowment per student is meaningful data to a student or family planning for their education is simply not supported by any evidence – it is an assertion made by people with looking for media engagement, not support for students.

As a graduate of University of Michigan (Go Blue!), I very much understand why a big school that has something for everyone is attractive. But having also coached and taught at small schools (including several under 1000 students), I’m keenly aware of how these institutions provided transformative education that elevated the lives of students – and how playing varsity sports substantially increases student success and graduation rates at EVERY college.

The biggest struggle for small colleges is there are so many of them and their ability to get the attention of the right students at the right moment is limited. In the end, most students will choose different pathways, but as a parent, school counselor, or independent consultant, the more encyclopedic your knowledge of these highly diverse and specialized opportunities is, the more valuable your ability to truly optimize a prospective student-athlete’s range of choices. Creating space for the right small college coach to connect with a student can be a transformational moment in a college search, regardless of whether the student ultimately chooses this path on their educational and athletic journey. Being an advisor who enables this conversation between a coach and student who are truly a potential match is one area where advisors can add tremendous value – a value that is not replicable via a Google or AI driven process.

As always, if you are interested in learning more about individualized or institutional consulting to elevate your college search, check out our services here! You can make an initial appointment through the link on our homepage! School administrators and counselors access our free resources, appointments and programs for school collaboration here.

For more information, contact Dave Morris, College Counselor & CEO, College Athletic Advisor, dave@collegeathleticadvisor.com or phone: (719) 248-7994

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