The NCAA's latest Division I graduation-rates research for the entering class of 1997 shows a three-percentage-point increase in the rate at which Division I-A football student-athletes earned their degrees. Football's graduation rate of 57 percent for the 1997 class is the highest in the sport since the NCAA began tracking graduation rates with the 1984 class.

Also, the overall student-athlete rate of 62 percent matches the all-time high set by the 1996 class. The graduation rate for the general student body rose by a percentage point (from 59 percent to 60) and closed the gap between student-athlete rates and student rates from three percentage points to two. But the student-athlete graduation rate continues to be at least equal to or higher than the overall student population, a trend that has been steady since 1986.

The increase in Division I-A football was buoyed by a six-percentage-point jump for white football student-athletes (from 61 percent to 67). Rates for black football student-athletes stayed steady at 49 percent, which is 6 percentage points higher than the rate at which the overall black student body graduated, and 13 percentage points higher than black male students. The 65 percent rate for white football student-athletes is two percentage points higher than the white student-body cohort and five percentage points above white male students.

Rates in men's basketball remained steady at 44 percent. Rates for black men's basketball student-athletes rose by a percentage point, from 41 percent in 1996 to 42 percent for the 1997 cohort. Rates for white men's basketball student-athletes fell, however, from 52 percent to 48.

Rates for white women's basketball student-athletes realized a similar slip, from 70 percent in 1996 to 67 percent for the 1997 cohort. Though rates for black women's basketball student-athletes increased by a percentage point (from 58 to 59 percent), rates for the overall women's basketball cohort in 1997 dropped from 66 percent to 64 percent, the first dip for women's basketball since 1992.

As expected from the fact that the overall student-athlete graduation rate is above that of the general student body, various student-athlete cohorts also compared favorably with their student-body counterparts. The following chart illustrates that only white male student-athletes in the 1997 cohort graduated at rates below those of the comparable student group.

Over time, the female student-athlete cohort has consistently graduated at the highest rate, followed by female students, male students and male student-athletes.

New methodology to emerge

The 1997 class was the second to matriculate under Prop 16, which established a sliding-scale index that combined high-school grade-point averages and standardized-test scores to determine initial eligibility. The 1996 class reflected the effects of Prop 16, and the 1997 student-athlete cohort matched that initial group's graduation rate.

As has been the case with previous graduation-rates reports, the 1997 cohort is tracked based on the federally mandated methodology, which many college presidents and athletics administrators believe is limited because it does not take into account transfer student-athletes who leave in good academic standing. In other words, an academically eligible student-athlete who transfers to another institution and eventually graduates counts against the institution he or she transferred from and does not count toward the institution he or she transferred to.

Next year, however, the NCAA will provide an alternative graduation-rate measure in addition to the report compiled using the federally mandated methodology. The new rate, called the Graduation Success Rate, will take transfers into account and is designed to provide a more accurate and real-time assessment of graduation success for all athletics programs.