By Laura Copeland
Marc Lapointe could have been playing soccer at Concordia College in Michigan.
But the first-year Carleton University student turned down a scholarship to play because he wasn’t ready to leave Ottawa for the U.S.
“I was intimidated to go to the States,” he says. “I didn’t think I was ready to leave home.”
Although Lapointe says he didn’t regret giving up his U.S. sports scholarship during the soccer season, he is now thinking twice. He is currently entertaining offers from some U.S. schools.
But he says if Canadian universities offered more financial assistance he wouldn’t be looking south of the border.
“I wouldn’t even think of the States if Canadian universities gave scholarships,” he says. Canadian universities may be doing just that if members of the Canadian Inter-university Athletic Union (CIAU) agree on the much-debated issue.
As it stands, first-year university athletes are not eligible for scholarships and upper-year athletes can receive no more than $1,500 per year.
The proposals for the new scholarship system would allow awards to cover the cost of tuition. Entering students would be eligible as long as they maintained a 70 per cent grade average.
The proposals were agreed upon at a meeting of university athletic directors in late November and they will be voted on at a similar meeting in June in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The problem lies in getting all the universities in the CIAU to agree on the proposals.
In the past, Ontario universities have been against athletic scholarships while the western and eastern schools have endorsed them.
But that may be changing. Luc Gelineau, director of athletics at the University of Ottawa, agrees with giving out athletic scholarships, as long as the athlete in question has a good academic standing. There are currently 10 student athletes at the University of Ottawa who receive financial aid.
Gelineau says that although Canadian schools are losing athletes to the U.S., changing the awards will not make a big difference in the quality of Canadian university sports.
“We are not in a position to compete with the U.S.,” says Gelineau.
Dave Smart, coach of the men’s basketball team at Carleton, agrees.
“(Scholarships) would raise the talent level a little bit but it wouldn’t make a big difference.”
However, Smart would like to see more athletic scholarships offered in conjunction with an academic component.
“These kids put in an awful lot of time for the university,” he says. “It would be a great opportunity for the kids we have that are academically oriented.”
Throughout the next few months the CIAU will be preparing for the meeting in June by getting feedback from schools.
Tom Huisman, interim CEO of the CIAU and director of development and operations, is confident the majority of universities will come to an agreement on the scholarship issue.
Huisman says that the schools and conferences are taking the proposals as a starting point and are getting institutional feedback on them.
“Hopefully all the groundwork will be completed by June,” Huisman says. “We have to try and get the issues out on the table now, before the meeting.”
Lapointe plans to tour schools in New York and North Carolina to see what they have to offer.
But until an agreement is reached, Canadian athletes like him will continue to go south for their education.