National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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May 10, 2010 9:02:48 AM

Two-year transfers entering college in 2002 were 15 percent less likely to graduate within six years than those who started at a four-year school, according to new data from the NCAA research staff.

Based on that information, the Division I Academic Cabinet is working with representatives from the two-year college community to improve those numbers.

Some student-athletes arrive at two-year colleges less academically prepared than the rest of the student body. In such cases, they are required to take remedial courses in math, English or both just to be able to handle transferrable courses such as history or biology.

Because they are not academically prepared to start taking higher-level credits that transfer to a four-year institution, they often take their remedial coursework and load up on transferrable physical education credits to meet full-time enrollment and other requirements.

Beginning this fall, two-year college transfers in men's basketball will be allowed to transfer only two credit hours of physical education courses (unless the individual is a physical education major).

Carolyn Callahan, chair of the Academic Cabinet and faculty athletics representative at Virginia, said the cabinet will be careful in its ongoing review of the data.

"Not all two-four transfers are the same, and we should take care not to create rules that over-generalize," she said. "We also must remember that we are in a situation where the students and their coaches expect immediate participation, but we see negative (academic) outcomes. So we may consider eligibility standards that will allow us to make the right decisions about individuals instead of groups as a whole."

Carlyle Carter, executive director of the Commission on Athletics and president of the California Community College Athletic Association, said that while not every two-year college student-athlete faces immediate remediation, a commitment should exist to assist those who are not prepared to do college-level work when they graduate from high school.

"They are motivated to attend college for their love of athletics and the pursuit of their dream to participate in athletics, Carter said. "We shouldn't care why they're in college. Once they are there, we have an obligation to make sure they understand that athletics is not just a means to an end. The end is higher education."

Who is responsible for remediation?

Opportunities for remediation are in steep decline at four-year institutions, and data show that two-year institutions increasingly handle that type of work. The problem arises when a student-athlete who needed remediation at the start of college transfers after four semesters. NCAA rules require student-athletes to have 40 percent of a degree in transferrable credits, a standard that is rigorous to achieve even without transferring.

Mary Ellen Leicht, executive director of the National Junior College Athletic Association, said that student-athletes who require remediation are trying to get the remediation completed, plus the 40 percent of transferrable degree credit, in a two-year window.

"Essentially, you're asking someone who came in under-prepared to actually do more than someone who came in at a very high level, just to get to the same point," she said. "Give us an opportunity to do what we do very well – take these kids and get them to the point where they can be successful in college-level courses. But we need a little bit more time."

The two-year college community has floated the idea of suspending the five-year-clock (the rule that allows student-athletes five years from matriculation to complete four years of eligibility) for student-athletes who require a certain amount of remediation. Practice would be allowed, while competition would not.

Wanda Wong, an athletics academic counselor at West Valley College in Saratoga, California, and head of the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics two-year college committee, wrote her doctoral dissertation on the impact of the 40-60-80 rule (requiring student-athletes to complete 40 percent of their degree after two years of college, 60 percent after three years and so on) on two-year transfer student-athletes. She believes that if the five-year clock were suspended for a year for student-athletes who needed it, and the 40-60-80 rule became more flexible for those same student-athletes, results would be noticeable.

"It would solve a whole host of problems," she said. "What we're trying to do is allow access for students who want to compete at the Division I level so that they will not be penalized as a result of wherever they start in their life, whatever else happens in their life."

Leicht said that the idea probably wouldn't work for everyone. But she likes the concept of having those who need extra help concentrate on academics for a year and of allowing student-athletes to opt not to play their first year in order to become more successful as a student.

Callahan said that idea and others will need vetting by the cabinet and would receive a fair hearing with input from all stakeholders. She also cautioned that putting too much stock in remedial classes might be a mistake, citing a recent study that documents the lack of success of both remedial and study-skills courses in preparing students for future success.

Varied levels of support

Other factors also influence a two-four transfer student-athlete's academic success at the four-year institution. Both Callahan and the representatives from the two-year college community cited the transition as a major reason why some transfer student-athletes struggle at the four-year level. Often, two-year college students stay close to home to attend school, so moving to a far-away four-year institution could be a culture shock. When most of their peers already would have been on campus for a year or two, they would have difficulty finding a peer group.

"They are moving into an environment where friendships and groups have been evolving for years, and they are the outsider and hence do not have the same peer support institutions," Callahan said.

The NCAA research also revealed that few Division I institutions offer the same level of support to two-year transfer students as to incoming freshmen.

"They are seen as upper-division students, so they sometimes don't get the same (support) as a regular student would," Wong said. "You might see an advisor, but you often don't get oriented to the college, the services and what's available."

NCAA data showed that far fewer schools require the use of academic support services, such as study hall, for incoming transfer student-athletes than for incoming freshmen. Callahan suggested that the cabinet might investigate a "best practices" educational effort into risk assessment and specialized support services for transfer student-athletes.

"We should study cases where that type of service has been implemented and determine the type of risk assessment and support services that are predictive of success and under what conditions," she said. "We need to be judicious in the expenditure of funds and ensure that we spend money on programs that work."

The cabinet will continue discussion of this topic over the next several months, as will members of the two-year college community. The NJCAA's Leicht said her organization is seeking feedback from presidents.

"We're taking baby steps," she said. "This is going to be a process and something we will need to work through."