NCAA athletes improve overall graduation rates
The annual Graduation Success Rate shows 79 percent of all athletes entering college between 2000-01 and 2003-04 earned degrees within six years, matching last year’s record mark. The freshman class of 2003-04 also graduated at a rate of 79 percent, matching the record of the past two years.
Federal numbers show the ’03-’04 class graduated at a higher rate, 64 percent, than the overall student body, 63 percent. The NCAA’s numbers are higher than those released by the federal government because the NCAA data accounts for transfer students who earn degrees. The federal rate does not.
The grad rate for football players jumped from 66 percent in the last report to 69 percent for players who entered college in 2003-04.
And while the overall men’s basketball number, 66 percent, was the same as last year, the number of black basketball players who graduated increased three points from 2009, going from 57 percent to a record-high 60.
That’s a 14-point jump since the NCAA first started calculating grad rates nine years ago.
sportingnews.com
10/29/10
