College Athletes? Grades

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that one reason colleges have been unable to handle effectively the problem of athletes with abysmal grades is that star players bring wealthy alums back to campus, along with their checkbooks. The author points out that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approved a reform package, particularly for the big money-making sports of football and basketball, which require more stringent eligibility rules for recruiting; once in college, the athletes must graduate within five years, completing 20 percent of the coursework each year, while maintaining at least a 1.8 grade-point average as a freshman, and a 2.0 each year thereafter to be eligible to play. The paper relates that there is a correlation between lower grades (even lower than usual) among college athletes during their sport's season and that academically marginal student athletes respond less successfully to the increased demands of college.

Table of Contents
Abortive Mission
A Lesson from the High School
Poor Excuses

From the Paper:

"At least since 1998, high schools in wealth Northern Virginia have tightened academic standards for student athletes and for other students who participate in other extracurricular activities as well. Fairfax County coaches and teachers had begun monitoring student grades. In addition, in Fairfax County, the students cannot comply with the demand for a C average or better by taking only one or two easy classes; "students are required to take five classes and pass five classes in a previous school semester to be eligible to participate in athletics." If a student does drop two letter grades in a subject or his grade-point average drops below 2.0, he is counseled by coaches and offered help."

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