[Vinny A]

Second quarter report cards came home, and I was pretty happy with how well I did. This got me thinking about colleges. Most may say being a Freshman in high school its a bit too early to start thinking about colleges, but I want to keep options open. And chances are I am gonna need to improve my biking skills if I want to race for a college.

I know some colleges have mountian biking programs but do some of them will actually give you money to ride for them? I think I heard someone on the DH/FR foums saying how a college in Cali gave them money to ride DS and 4x for them.

So do you know of any colleges that give money for mountian biking? What will I need to do to get into one, what level of riding will I have to be at to get money for it? Even if they just have a decent program I wanna know about it, I dont want to limit any options at this point.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Lawson Raider]

I wish I could answer your questions. The only thing I wanted to say was it is never too early to think about college. It is better to have an idea of what you want to do ahead of time rather than graduate with no plan of what you want to do. Trust me, from experience I can tell you.

 

[The SS Boz]

I'd say you could get some sort of athletic scholarship (so brush up on the bike skills in the next couple years)...:thumbsup:

But paying someone to ride or play any sport in college is a big No-No...Not that it isn't done kinda under the table though....

 

[Hippienflipflops]

University of Colorado Boulder has a couple biking scholarships. That and boulder is great for riding.

 

[yater]

College athletes can't legally be paid. You can get a free ride for any sport they participate in...which is just as good. Athletes usually get a pretty sweet setup (apartment, first pick on classes, meal plan, etc). I wish I had started thinking about that stuff before my senior year.

 

[KONA_in_SB]

I think we all know what the OP meant by 'being paid to ride'. IT doesn't really matter if they call it a scholarship, fellowship, grant, whatever... You''re still gettting paid. But to the origanl question, I have not heard of any scholarships for biking in college. If there is a school(s) that have then I bet they are pretty competitive to get. If you are seriuos about this look into some junior level cycling programs like Junior Olympics. Also you will find more money and potential support in the road side of our sport.

Now if you just want to ride while in school there are plenty of schools with cycling programs. Check out USA Cycling. They have links to all the collegiate conferences:
http://www.usacycling.org/ncca/

I did my undergrad at Oregon State. You can take mountain biking for credit there, awesome. Plus riding in Oegon kicks @ss. Now I am at UC Santa Barbara, they have a pretty strong road team but not much of a mountain bike team. Riding here is good and year-around.

 

[Tracerboy]

Lots of the big public universities will probably have some sort of cycling club/team in one form or another. I go to wisconsin and there is a cycling team. There are scholarships given out to members, but its more of a general scholarship available to all memebers I think. I'm not part of the team. But depending on what part of the country your in you would have a regional conference that you would compete in. I believe there are three classes, A, B, and C. A for expert, B for sport, and C for beginner. There is usually a regional championship and if you do well in the season you can qualify for nationals.

 

[mcginnis842]

I commonly see some guys decked out in U of M jerseys on the trails I ride. So maybe they have program but I wouldn't suggest U of M as school. Their undergrad is...less then desirable unless you're a really good football player.

 

[chad1433]

I commonly see some guys decked out in U of M jerseys on the trails I ride. So maybe they have program but I wouldn't suggest U of M as school. Their undergrad is...less then desirable unless you're a really good football player.

EMU has hotter chix...

 

[forkboy]

But paying someone to ride or play any sport in college is a big No-No...Not that it isn't done kinda under the table though....

You cannot be paid for competing as a member of the college cycling team

You can, however, be a professional, sponsored racer, and still ride on the college team.

Our local college has an umpteen time national champion MTB team, and probably 1/3 of the riders are sponsored - some by fairly well-know, large companies. Not sure what all they receive as compensation.

Collegiate cycling scholarships are few and far inbetween. For most universities, cycling is a club sport.

 

[hab1b]

We have a club DH team here at WSC. its pretty awesome we compete with schools from all over. 5 riders 4 fastest time lowest average team time wins. i would reccomend joining a team if you are fortunate enough to go to a school with one. WSC is a fun school but winter time is lame if all you want to do is bike. our team makes a few trips to moab in the winters tho.

 

[BikinAggie]

Second quarter report cards came home, and I was pretty happy with how well I did. This got me thinking about colleges. Most may say being a Freshman in high school its a bit too early to start thinking about colleges, but I want to keep options open. And chances are I am gonna need to improve my biking skills if I want to race for a college.

I know some colleges have mountian biking programs but do some of them will actually give you money to ride for them? I think I heard someone on the DH/FR foums saying how a college in Cali gave them money to ride DS and 4x for them.

So do you know of any colleges that give money for mountian biking? What will I need to do to get into one, what level of riding will I have to be at to get money for it? Even if they just have a decent program I wanna know about it, I dont want to limit any options at this point.

Thanks a lot!

Being a freshman in high school is the perfect time to start thinking about college. I'm in my first year at Texas A&M, and I wish I'd had your foresight. I slacked off through most of high school, and was lucky enough to make it into top 10% for assured acceptance to Texas public universities. If I'd truly performed at my potential all through high school I could easily have received scholarships or been accepted to honors programs in my major. By all means have fun, but make sure you're active in some extracurriculars, and work hard enough to get good grades. Does your school or district have a biking club? If not, talk to a teacher and get a sponsor to start one up, universities eat that stuff up. As far as biking in college, those who have said it's usually a club sport are correct. That doesnt mean you cant get hookups though, our club has a deal with a lbs for discounts on gear with membership. Keep up the good work, it'll pay dividends for the rest of your life.

 

[jabpn]

EMU has hotter chix...

After working at a bank during U of M's "student rush" I can say this isn't true! :thumbsup:

 

[Soloracer]

So does Colorado State

University of Colorado Boulder has a couple biking scholarships. That and boulder is great for riding.

But CSU has trails you can actually ride on from campus-- Boulder-- not so much so unless you like playing roadie before you hit the dirt

 

[venus1]

Focus Danielson, Focus.

Vinnie:
Find a college that you like for other reasons than the sport of mountain biking. How do you intend to make a living? Get real & decide what job you would be happy doing for the long haul. Unless you are gifted as a pro mtn biker you need some realistic ground to stand on.

 

[Soloracer]

Why not?

Vinnie:
Find a college that you like for other reasons than the sport of mountain biking.

Most colleges are accredited, most colleges offer a wide range of majors. Find one in an area that you like, more than likely they will have quality majors that will lead to jobs. Spending four years of your life in a crappy location is not fun, why not have your cake and eat it too?

 

[nrs_air]

I'm going to college next year, and I picked UNC over Va Tech and Lees McRae (they offered a scholarship) because it's better for what I want to do, not for bike racing. They still have a club that is mostly for roadies (which is fine with me) but I won't be focusing on bike racing :sad:

Smaller colleges will give scholarships to race, but I've never heard of a really big college handing them out.

 

[LetsGoOutside]

Pick a college that is good for what you want to do professionally not for the cycling team, trust me. As much as I would love to be a professional bike racer the reality of the matter is there is no way in hell it will happen, but the upside is you can act like a professional bike racer while in school. Live off of student loans, set up your schedule the right way and you can train as many hours a week as you would like and travel to all the races you see fit.

Collegiate cycling is a club sport at all levels and there is seldom scholarships given out for them, I have heard rumor that several schools do but I have never seen any proof of it. You will likely have way more luck doubling up on teams and riding collegiate to build a resume and finding another team to race the other stuff with, thats how most of my team rolls.

 

[Ross W.]

I remember getting a letter from some college in North Carolina. Might have been a scholarship offer, I don't remember.

I think there are a few small schools that have very serious mountain biking programs. But it seems to me that it is more the team/club than the school itself that is involved with scholarships et cetra.

In my opinion, you have to be very talented/fast to really get anything from a college. Mountain biking just isn't mainstream enough to garner that kind of attention from the school itself.

As for school choice, definitely go somewhere you actually want to be, but don't make cycling the sole reason for the choice. Forget getting paid, unless you get sponsors. But you can certainly always join whatever club or team a school has.