INDIANAPOLIS ― NCAA President Mark Emmert keeps touting the record-breaking graduation rates of Division I athletes. Critics keep balking at the interpretation of those numbers, citing recent academic scandals.
The NCAA’s newest graduation report, released Tuesday, showed 84 percent of athletes who entered college in 2007-08 earned a degree within six years, a 2 percentage-point increase over last year’s previous high mark. The four-year average of 82 percent is another record, up 1 percentage point from the 2013 report. Emmert also said there were increases in almost all demographics in the one-year measurement ― some rare good news for a governing body in tumult.
“It’s the highest [rate] ever by a good measure and it’s up virtually across the board ― football, basketball, all other sports, men, women, all races included,” Emmert told The Associated Press. “So it’s the best academic performance we’ve ever seen.”
The federal numbers show a similar trend.
Over the four-year period covering freshmen classes from 2004-07, athletes graduated at a rate of 65 percent, 1 point higher than the general student body. The 2006-07 freshmen class also set a record, 66 percent, compared with 65 percent of non-athletes.
The difference in rates is that the NCAA counts athletes who transfer in good academic standing and graduate from another school. The feds do not.
