Advertisement

NCAA reports record graduation rates for athletes

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Student athletes continue to graduate at record rates, with football and some men’s basketball players showing major improvement, the NCAA said Wednesday.

For the second year in a row, 79% of athletes who entered college between 2000 and 2004 graduated within six years, according to the annual Graduation Success Rate report. The freshman class of 2003-04 also saw 79% of its students graduate, matching the record set by the comparable class in the studies from the previous two years.

Advertisement

Football players who entered college in 2003-04 graduated 69% of the time, up from 66% in the previous report. Eighteen of the top 25 teams in the BCS standings graduated at least 60% under the four-year measures, led by Miami (81%), Iowa (79%) and Virginia Tech (79%). Oklahoma and Arizona were the only teams below 50% in both measures.

The overall number for men’s basketball remained at 66% for 2003-04, but African American players are up three percentage points to a record 60%. Under the four-year measure, 12 of last year’s final top 25 teams were at 50% or lower, including California at 30% and Connecticut at 31%. But Villanova and Illinois each had 100% graduation rates, and the top two teams, Duke and Butler, were each at 83%.

[Updated at 1:21 p.m.: The overall graduation success rate for students starting in 2003 at USC and UCLA is right around average, with 78% for the Trojans and 79% for the Bruins. UCLA graduated 68% of men’s basketball players and 52% of football players who started between 2000-2003. USC graduated 42% of men’s basketball players and 61% of football players from the same time period.

A full report on all schools and sports is here.]

-- Chuck Schilken

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Advertisement