July 1, 1996

Study shows continued grad-rate progress

"Now that we have four years of data from classes that entered college after Prop 48 went into effect, I'm pleased to see that the goal of higher graduation rates was met," NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey said. "By asking high-school student-athletes to do a better job of preparing academically for college, we've ensured that more of them will be successful in getting a degree."

The total number of student-athletes who graduated in the class that entered in 1989 was 14 percent higher than the class that entered in 1985-86, the last year before Proposition 48 went into effect. During the same time, the total number of student-athletes increased only two percent. Also, about 20 percent more black student-athletes graduated in the class that entered in 1989 compared to the 1985 entering class.

The report is a conservative estimate of the Division I graduation rate. It counts only student-athletes who entered as freshmen, those who receive athletically related financial aid and those who graduate from that institution within six years of initial enrollment. Student-athletes who transfer in good academic standing and graduate elsewhere count against their original institution as not graduating; they do not count as graduates for the second institution, either.

The report, released June 28, showed an increase in the graduation rate for African-American males, offsetting a decline experienced by the 1988 class.

The rate for all black male student-athletes in Division I for the 1989 entering class was 43 percent, which matched the 1987 class for the highest mark ever. Similarly, the graduation rate for African-American Division I male basketball student-athletes was 39 percent, which also matched the high mark of the 1987 entering class. Since the study began in 1984, the 1988 entering class is the only one in which a decline was noted for Division I African-American student-athletes and for black male basketball players.

The 43 percent rate for Division I black male student-athletes was higher than for the overall Division I black male student population (35 percent). The overall graduation rate for African-American student-athletes at Division I institutions was 46 percent, six percent higher than for African-American students at the same institutions.

Division I black female student-athletes continued to graduate at a far higher rate than black females in the overall student bodies. For the second consecutive year, their graduation rate was 58 percent, which is 15 percent higher than for the overall black female population at Division I institutions.

The graduation rate for both black and white Division I-A football players rose -- by four percent for blacks to 46 percent and by three percent for whites to 67 percent.

NCAA Director of Research Ursula R. Walsh said that while the aggregate data are encouraging, care should be taken when applying the information to a particular institution.

"It's important to keep in mind that each institution has its own mission and a particular population from which it draws its students," Walsh said.

"Various factors, like socio-economic status, can affect graduation rates for that population as a whole, including student-athletes. Comparing one institution's student-athletes to its student body is a better test of how that institution is doing in educating its student-athletes than comparing that institution to another one with a student population that might be very different."

Each year, the NCAA compiles and publishes graduation-rates data for Division I member institutions. The Division I report is distributed to 27,000 high schools for use by guidance counselors, coaches, students and parents.