Throughout the country, high school seniors compete in their selected sport in order to try to advance to the next level and earn a college scholarship. After the 2012-2013 school year, IVCC has made it much more difficult for an incoming freshman or current student to earn a sports scholarship. As a result of athletic cuts, two teams have seen all of their tuition waivers taken away and other sports have seen waivers reduced.

The two sports that have unfortunately suffered this change and had their scholarships fully taken away are the baseball and volleyball programs. With no scholarships to be awarded, these two teams will compete in the much less competitive NJCAA Division III. Sounds great, doesn’t it? That is, if they will still be able to field a team that is able to be competitive.

“With the scholarships being taken away, it will be much harder to get solid athletes to buy into our program. Teams we are competing against in our conference are able to hand out scholarships, and that is something we cannot compete with. With that being said, we have enough talent in this area to be competitive every year as long as those players are willing to buy into our program,” said baseball coach Jason Goode.

Another team that no longer has scholarships, and hasn’t for some time, is men’s tennis. Not only does men’s tennis not receive scholarships, but it is currently competing at the NJCAA Division I level. At the NJCAA Division I level, teams are allowed not only tuition scholarships, but these schools can also pay for room and board as well. Without scholarships, this makes it tough for IVCC to find tennis recruits and to be successful at the same time.

On a positive note, there are still a few programs at IVCC that are able to award waivers, even if the number has beenr reduced. One of those is men’s basketball, which puts out a competitive team every year. Another is women’s softball, which was one win away from qualifying for the national tournament last season. Women’s basketball, which has qualified for the national tournament in recent years and receives recognition year in and year out in the national polls, also awards waivers.

With all of these cuts and reductions happening at IVCC, the school is saving money. Hopefully, the sports teams do not suffer. It is hoped that we can still see people coming from not only the area but from all over the country to attend IVCC.

With that being said, is anybody benefiting?