$126,365: Cost of Junior Development?

Duke: $55,690 x 4 years = $222,760UCLA: $51,563 x 4 years = $206,252
Florida: $42,066 x 4 years = $168,264
Michigan: $50,352 x 4 years = $201,408
Texas: $46,098 x 4 years = $184,392
North Carolina: $41,140 x 4 years = $164,560
Princeton: $52,670 x 4 years = $210,680
Washington: $46,466 x 4 years = $185,864

Here are the current costs for out-of-state tuition, room, board, and fees (worst case scenario) to big time tennis programs around the country. Remember, in men's tennis there are only 4.5 scholarships to spread around towards the entire team. A very small percentage of men (even the top 10 ranked juniors nationally) are landing full scholarships in their freshman year if they are going to big time tennis programs. With six guys in the lineup, there has to be enough money to go around to keep everyone happy. In women, there are 8 scholarships, so all the women (including the women not competing) will get a full ride. Thanks to Title IX.

If you look at the University of Michigan at $201,408 for a 4-year projected scholarship, the costs are middle of the road when compared to the other public and private universities across the land. Let's do some fun math and suppose you have an 18 year old son who is currently ranked #55 on TR.net. He wants to play for a top 20 program such as Michigan, but is clearly not good enough to land a full-ride (plus he is out-of-state). The worst case scenario (offered no scholarship) using rough Present Value math calculations says his parents will have needed to save atleast $126,365 in their bank account by the time he was 10 years old (accounting for 8 years of investing with a 6% return on investment).

Let's suppose you were ahead of the ball game as parents and already saved $130,000 by the time he was 10 years old. You planned before your son was born through savings and inheritance in anticipation of the hefty sum for his future college education. Sounds great, everything is going perfectly as planned.

Then your son at the age of 10 starts to become good at tennis. He starts to travel, get invitations to training camps, partial scholarships to tennis academies, accepted into National Events, and all his friends are moving along at the same pace. Emotion starts to factor in and as a parent, you can't help but want to believe in your child (he's got the love and talent, things will just work out). You tell your wife, money is sort of tight, lets dip into that college fund of $130,000 to offset some of the costs. $5,000 here and $3,000 there, no big deal. This consistently starts to happen as the pressure starts to build. You start to drink the Kool-Aid, "boy, your son really can be a top professional someday. Don't worry, he's going to get a big time scholarship, you wait and see."

Time unfolds and your $130,000 has dwindled down to $80,000 in savings for his college education.  He is 15 years old and really seems to be making good progress.  Sitting down as parents, you decide to make the investment (gamble more like) and send him to Evert's down in Boca Raton.  After a year of training and jetting around to tournaments, you spend a cool $40,000 in hopes that your calculated investment will pay off to land bigger scholarships down the road.  Kalamazoo Under 18's comes around and once again, he does just enough to impress some coaches, but nothing spectacular...he is ranked #55 on TR.net at 18 years of age.

This is a common scenario and a really unfair scenario. In other sports like Football and Basketball, the scholarships are easier to come by, but on the same note, they have more people participating in their respective sports. The only remedy is be realistic because you can't control the rankings (no matter how much money you spend).  The message is to simply watch out for the emotion that can overtake your logical decisions as parents. College is no joke, its very expensive. You must not put all your eggs in one basket or bet the farm because very few people get full rides to the top 20 tennis programs (plus it puts so much pressure on the child, hinders their development, and makes them feel more important than they really are). Now, if you are willing to sacrifice and play on a team outside the top 60 in Division I, then yes maybe some options will open up for a full ride. So be smart and manage your money. The purpose of this website is to show that there are other ways (smarter ways) to become good at the game while not breaking your bank account.

I would argue families are spending upwards of $126,365 per year and well above a quarter of a million in junior development as a conservative estimate.  When you start to pile on the lessons, traveling as a family, tournaments, equipment, bad information (mistakes), academies- its overwhelming how costs can escalate trying to keep up with the competition around you.  Money spent does not equal better tennis players.  

Anyone want to share their costs of raising a tennis player?  Let's not forget there are costs after college if your son or daughter wants to compete on the Futures, Challengers, and Professional Circuits and this when your child needs you the most! (if you want to chase that ultimate dream).    

Comments

[Lisa S]

now you've got me curious! i'm going to sit down over the next few days and see if i can come up with a total that we've spent since our son started playing competitively. not sure i really want to see the result!

[KC]

You forgot to mention what happens if your parents put in an easy $200,000 into your game then you start to feel pain in your hip joint. You go to the doctors and are told you need hip surgery. So now you not only have put money into your child you have a $10,000 medical bill and maybe your child can no longer play anymore...

[Tweener]

I always thought if would be great to get a chart or something that summarized the junior tennis accomplishments of the huge name USA tennis players that eventually made it big internationally. For example: what did Agassi,Sampras,Roddick, and the other big USA names achieve when they were in the under 16 division, under 18 division, etc. Make a nice chart of that and then hand it out to tennis parents as a reality check. Or have it available on high quality tennis websites such as this one for parents to review. Again, my understanding is that you have to been in the top 100 of the ATP to actually make any money - so - how did those guys who eventually made it perform in the junior ranks. I imagine incredibly well?

[Kathleen]

Thank you for this very accurate and thoughtful / thought-provoking post.