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Graduation Rates
A 1990 federal law requires universities to report graduation rates for full-time undergrads and for students on athletic scholarships. Graduation rates are something many parents and student-athletes inquire about, as they should. It is important for any college athletic program to display that they can successfully graduate student-athletes that come to play at their school.
HOW THE GRADUATION RATE IS CALCULATED?
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| | NCAA graduation rates are based on a 6-year period from when a scholarship athlete enters college. They do not take into consideration walk-on’s and they do not take into consideration transfer students that transfer “into a program”, but they do count athletes that transfer out of a program. So when a transfer leaves, it hurts the overall grad rate number. | | |
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Links to Graduation Rate Info
chronicle.com/stats/ncaa/
www.ncaa.org/grad_rates/2001/d1/index.html
The last report done by the NCAA based on freshman that entered school in 1995 showed that scholarship athletes participating in Division 1 NCAA member schools graduated at a rate of 60%. This is the first time the figure has reached 60% since the NCAA began tracking graduation rates 18 years ago. This sounds awful, but the graduation rate for the general student body (non-athletes) at the same time was actually slightly lower at 58%. So when compared to the general student body, 60% does not seem that bad. Male athletes graduated at a rate of 54%, up 3% from a year ago, while the rate for female athletes remained at 69%
What is frustrating for families is that they cannot really investigate the graduation rates of non-athletes, and when they see low graduation rates of scholarship student-athletes, they automatically assume its because of athletics or the coach. In many cases, a school might only have 4 kids on scholarship out of 25. But If the graduation rates are low, it must be that the coach does not care about academics or that there are simply too many games and practices interfering with study time. This is not always the case.
Calculating graduation rates solely on scholarship athletes alone is somewhat of a farce, since many teams are made up largely of non-scholarship athletes and walk-ons. There are many division 1 programs that might offer only 3 or 4 full scholarships but still have 25 or 30 players on the team.
Many schools actually have higher graduation rates for athletes, because many student-athletes know that without athletics, they have no scholarship and ultimately no education. These athletes work particularly hard at their academic success, where other students have seemingly less to lose. There are also many academic programs that assist athletes when needed, which many not always be available to the regular students.
Schools that also have higher graduation rates usually do a better job of recruiting student-athletes that are not only serious about academics, but already ahead of the academic curve. They don’t have to worry about athletes going to classes or doing their work, because athletics is only a small part of their college experience, where other student-athletes make athletics the focus of their college experience and could care less about academic success as long as they “remain eligible.”
There is no secret that many athletic teams driven by success and money are accepting student-athletes that are nowhere ready to be full-time college students. These students get in even more trouble in college when they are asked to be a college athlete and sacrifice the majority of their free time that could be used studying. There are also student-athletes who could care less about class and are at school for the soul purpose of participating in athletics or trying to get drafted. So while a school could have awful graduation rates, it could be the fact that the players simply don’t care about schoolwork and there are many documented cases where this happens. This can then be turned around by saying that the coach should not recruit players that are not interested in education. And there is a viscous cycle of this debate back and forth as to who is to blame.
Many coaches have argued for years that the way graduation rates are calculated paints an ambiguous picture because the reporting methods count only the percentage of freshmen that graduate from the same university within six years. Any student-athlete leaving the school for personal reasons, medical reasons, or gets drafted, counts as a non-graduate for the original program they entered as a freshman. Graduation rates also do not count transfer students who go on to graduate at another college.
The methodology of computing graduation rates is more controversial for teams that only recruit a few players a year. Having 1 or 2 players leave for any reason during the course of their college career has a big impact on a team’s ultimate graduation rates. If a football team has 2 players transfer, it does not hur the graduation rate number that much. If a basketball coach has 2 players transfer, it has a disasterous effect on his or her graduation rate number.
Coaches should not be held solely responsible for graduation rates of their athletes. Athletes have plenty of time to do their work but they are simply not disciplined enough to do their work and they often “choose” not to do their work or to do just enough to get by. They see academics as an intrusive task that impedes them from practicing, playing their sport, and hanging out with their friends. The only thing coaches should be held responsible for is recruiting undisciplined student-athletes, which can be clearly evident in their high school grades and test scores. Many claim that standardized tests are biased, but there are no standardized tests in college, once these players are getting to college, they are displaying the exact same work ethic they had in high school, which is none or very little. The bias is gone and they still choose to fail. You could also argue that not enough coaches monitor their players academic progress and create safety nets to stop struggling students before they are in bigger trouble. While many high profile schools go out of their way to monitor and help their athletes, other schools do not get as involved.
For more information on the college recruiting and application process see The Making of a Student-Athlete
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