We live in a day where the amount of money spend on college for non or little scholarship athletes is unbelievably high. State schools tend to run anywhere from $15,000-$23,000 (in state tuition, run and board). Private schools have a even bigger range with anywhere from $35,000-$55,000.
Many people are convinced that private schools provide a better education than a state school. Some people also believe that it's not worth the money to pay for a private school education when you can get something close to it with a state school. It's a matter of perception.
State schools generally offer lower tuition which is a huge positive in the eyes of parents and players that have to take out student loans. State schools generally have some extremely good programs that will give a great education at much less of the cost. If you are looking at education or criminal justice then it makes a lot more sense to go to a state school than a private. Why? There wouldn't be that much difference in the curriculum from a state to private, so why pay more for your education when you don't need to.
State schools will also offer academic scholarships but it tends to get a little harder to receive them because there isn't as much of a margin for the school to make money if they are continually giving out huge scholarships. Simple economics.
Private schools generally offer much higher tuition rates and many people believe that you get a much better education based off of smaller class sizes, more specialized majors, and alumni connections. Most private schools try make people believe that the higher the tuition, the better the education. It can be true in some cases but not in all. Are these programs worth $45,000 per year that could potentially bury the student financially for a long time? Maybe they are, if you can get an extremely high paying job out of college.
Now, private schools have the opportunity to get creative with financial aid packages. Not all will but some can. For example, the school costs $45,000 per year. An incoming freshmen has a legit 3.9 GPA and a 30 on their ACT. The school has a $20,000 scholarship for students with those type of grades and test scores. That immediately puts the cost at $25,000, which is a lot more feasible than $45,000. Some schools have scholarship ranges from $3,000 to full academic scholarship. It all depends on the institution.
One good question to ask is if the school has the ability to meet 100% of need. There are certain schools that are able to meet full need and others that aren't. What I mean by full or 100% need is that the school is able to cover what ever the family can not cover according to their EFC (check out FAFSA for more information). Schools are able to cover dollar amount based off of their endowment. In closing, the higher the endowment, the chances of the school being able to help incoming students with their financial aid packages.
If a D2 won't offer a full athletic scholarship because they are limited in scholarship money like I talked about here they can give you other avenues to "make it all work." Academic and athletic scholarship to go along with a Pell Grant. This doesn't necessarily mean it all cover all expenses for college but it could help out a lot and very limited loans need to be taken out.
Basically, if you are good student you will open up huge opportunities at both state and private schools to get exactly what you looking for in a college.
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