I don't find that difficult to believe, especially coming from the female side.
Our boys basketball AAU team had its top 8 players get money for athletics. A couple full rides, a full ride turned down and a few with 1/2 or less. Most of these kids played together for five years, and there were no misconceptions about who would be likely getting what. The one or two families who were misguided early on took their D1 sure thing superstars and went to play for teams that made their kids look like a star, you know, the teams we could put a running clock on.
Did the expenses cost more than the reward? Our son was the one who turned down the two full ride offers and decided to focus on academics and recieved a 1/2 off tuition scholarship. Met a girl, graduated, got married and now is in the medical field. We knew all along he was likely a poor fit for D1 athletics, but was a unique enough talent that he wanted to play travel basketball and I wanted to learn how to coach better so I figured as an assistant I was getting free on the job training and he was getting a once in a lifetime opportunity to face future NBA caliber talent so in the end it was well worth it as a family bonding experience. We often took side trips of mountain climbing or went to the beach during our travel to and from tournaments. Not for everyone, was rather pricey , but we knew it was money well spent in return for an experience. And I learned one heck of alot about basketball in those five years as an assistant.