Menlo College Offers First Athletic Scholarships

For the first time in its history Menlo College is offering athletic scholarships.

 Many factors played into this big decision, according to school officials, but the main factor was that all the other colleges that the Menlo Athletics program had to compete against had athletic scholarships.

 The ultimate goal, according to Menlo College's Athletic Director Keith Spataro, is to" bring in bigger, brighter, faster, smarter, more engaged student athletes."

 Spataro said research done by the college showed that better, more engaged students would come to Menlo for sports if athletic scholarships were offered.  Menlo wants to reel in the best student athletes possible, and by giving out scholarships this allows the school to compete for these types of athletes, Spartaro said.

 "Our objective is to go out and compete for a higher GPA for student athletes," said Spataro.

 The impact of the scholarships can already be seen in the Menlo Football program. Menlo has moved up from being an NCAA Division Three team to a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 

In total, for female and male sports teams, Menlo gave out approximately 120-130 scholarships. The number of scholarships could have been higher but they didn't start offering scholarships until March and therefore recruiting season was half over. 

Spataro said he believes that, "athletic scholarships enabled us to find student athletes who fit our institute better."

Scholarships were offered to both incoming freshman and transfer students.  In order to maintain academic integrity, Menlo has required that athletes must receive an academic scholarship as well as an athletic.

 "I am excited about Menlo giving athletic scholarships; it allows us to target a different level student and athlete," said Shannon Osborne, head coach for women's basketball.

 The women's basketball team gave out six scholarships—two to transfer students, two to incoming freshmen, and had one to a freshman walk-on.  Shannon believes the scholarships will have a positive affect on the team. 

"It is nice for the athletes to be rewarded for all of their hard work," said Osborne.