Student-athletes nationwide are graduating at a higher rate than ever, according to a recent study released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The NCAA found that student-athletes who enrolled in college between 1998 and 2001 graduated at an average rate of 78 percent, NCAA spokesperson Erik Christianson said. This represents a 2-percent increase compared to student-athletes who enrolled in college between 1995 and 1998.
The federal government also produces its own graduation rates, based on a calculation developed by the U.S. Department of Education. Its 68-percent rate for athletes is a much lower than the number found by the NCAA, but it is still the highest federal rate ever, Christianson said, and is 2 percent higher than the rate for the general student population.
The NCAA study calculates the graduation success rate, or the GSR, of student-athletes from Division-I athletic programs across the country. The NCAA’s graduation-rate calculation differs from the federal government’s calculation because it counts student-athletes who successfully transfer to another university, whereas the federal findings do not include transfers.
According to the NCAA Web site, “the GSR also allows institutions to subtract student-athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.”
At the University, student-athletes are graduating at a much higher rate than the national average. According to the NCAA findings, 86 percent of University student-athletes who entered the University between 1998 and 2001 completed their four-year degrees.
Jim Booz, associate athletic director for academic affairs, said University student-athletes have been performing academically above the national average for quite a while.
“We’ve performed at a very high rate for a very long time, [so] I wouldn’t say that we’re seeing a huge improvement or increase as opposed to the national average increasing,” Booz said.
While the national rate is higher than ever, Christianson said the push for academic improvement among student-athletes is not over.
“There’s still some room for improvement in some areas,” he said. “And we see some progress.”
For example, female student-athletes who entered college between 1998 and 2001 had an average GSR of 88 percent, whereas male student-athletes had an average GSR of 78 percent. Women who played basketball graduated within six years at a rate of 82 percent, whereas men who played basketball graduated at a rate of 62 percent. College football players graduated within six years at an average of 66 percent.
Certain schools also did not perform as well as others. According to the NCAA findings, the University of Maryland men’s basketball team, for example, had a GSR of 10 percent for student-athletes who enrolled in their first year between 1998 and 2001. To help improve lagging teams, Christianson said, an academic reform package was implemented three years ago.
The reforms put in place minimum GPA requirements and measures for academic progress. There are penalties for teams that do not meet the minimum academic progress rate requirements, such as overall team GPA, Christianson said. Punishments include restrictions on practice time and tournaments, losing scholarships and, in more extreme cases, exclusion from post-season tournaments, he said.
Booz said University student-athletes are held to the same standards as all other students at the University.
“There is a minimum GPA depending on their year in school,” he said. “They have to meet the very same academic requirements that any other student at the University does, but there are also NCAA requirements they have to meet” in order to maintain NCAA financial aid eligibility.
Because University academic requirements are generally more stringent than the NCAA requirements, Booz explained, University student-athletes who are in good academic standing almost always meet NCAA eligibility.
But just because the University is above the national average does not mean it is not striving to improve, Booz said.
“Our goal [is] to graduate 100 percent of the athletes,” he said. “So if you come here to participate in athletics for four years, you commit yourself to your academics for four years as well.”
Booz said the Office of Academic Affairs has contributed to reaching this goal by providing student-athletes with tutoring and mentoring services. Graduate and undergraduate students from all departments are hired to tutor student-athletes if athletes feel they need assistance with certain subjects, Booz explained, and some athletes can be paired with graduate students to work on time management skills and establish weekly goals.
“At the University of Virginia there has been a commitment to academic success of our student-athletes by the expectation that is placed on student-athletes to perform academically just like any other student,” Booz said.
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