They were a "last team" in the tournament, via the ND defeat of Michigan for the CCHA tournament. I thought it interesting that in reading an article about their program that their coach made the comment that the Yale AD committed to him to do everything possible to make Yale Hockey competitive. In a non-scholarship league (Ivy) how do you do that, attract top talent when they have to pay their own way. Well some people familiar with the situation said that the Yale AD has made a tremendous financial aide package available to athletes so much so that cost is not really an issue and that the athletes do not compete in the regular pool for admission. With Harvard's success recently in basketball under Tommy Amaker I've been told that their financial aide package is even more generous than Yale and that their players also do not compete in the same pool as regular admissions. So my original thought on the Yale victory being had by regular students who in addition to being outstanding students also like to play hockey and came out for the team is a bit dated. Terry
Terry, actually, the scholarship athletes at ND have never competed with the regular pool of applicants for admission. I know that because years ago Fr. Hesburgh said it publicly. Of course, they still must qualify and pass the same courses (no athlete-only courses), as I'm sure is the case at the Ivy League schools, so your perception is valid
I've always known that about ND and I'm sure it's the same for Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, etc. Even the military academies make allowances for athletes. I've also been told that many elite schools also make allowances for talented people in the Arts. The interesting part is that Yale and Harvard have huge endowments and offer special financial aide packages to students. I remember reading that most if not all of the Ivy League will waive tuition, room and board for kids from poor families. Certainly being able to make the cost of going to Harvard or Yale a non-issue for athletes is important for them to build successful athletic programs. I wonder about ND, what do we do for those sports where partial scholarships are used, such as baseball and golf. Even with a partial scholarship the ND tuition is going to be pretty big and make staying home and playing baseball at Houston, or Texas State or Univ of Texas San Antonio pretty darn attractive. I know my nephew who went to Texas A&M and played golf could not have afforded to go to ND without a full scholarship which is rarely given out in golf or baseball.
My connection with your question is a friend whose son was one of the best golfers in the state (IN) his senior year in HS. He received several scholarship offers, partial of course, and narrowed it down to IU and Michigan State. IU offered him a scholarship based on in-state tuition, resulting in net expense to his parents of "x" dollars. MSU offered significantly more dollars to reduce the out-of-state costs to the same amount as IU's. He chose MSU. I wonder how ND and other private schools calculate their partial scholarships to try to compete financially with schools closer to the recruit's home. Maybe we can't compete. It's an interesting question.