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There is a commercial that airs during most televised NCAA events stating there are 380,000 student-athletes, and just about every one of them will be going pro in something other than sports.
Division I athletes most often are prime targets for professional sports leagues, but in most cases when they are not selected to become a part of an organization, athletes are forced to fall back upon the degree they have been working toward for the past four years.
Whether or not the athlete put forward his or her best effort into both academics and athletics while attending their college relies completely on their own preferences, but a diploma from that institution may be the most important award earned from their time spent there.
In 2003-04, Division I freshman student-athletes were subjected to follow new eligibility requirements to create stronger work ethics toward completion of their degrees. The requirements are known as the Academic Progress Rate and were endorsed from the tenure of late NCAA executive director Myles Brand. NCAA officials hoped this regulation reform would help student-athletes exceed just as well in school as they did on the field.
The NCAA announced Wednesday that its athletes are graduating at record rates. The greatest statistical improvement came for football and men’s basketball. These rates are referred to by the NCAA as Graduation Success Rate, and newly appointed NCAA President Mark Emmert is excited to see the improved results that continue to help take away a poor reputation for athletes being so-called “dumb jocks” in the classroom.
Since the NCAA starting collecting GSR data back in 1998, it has risen from 76 percent to 79 percent for athletes who began college in 2003. The GSR measures graduation in a six-year time span. For male and female student-athletes, the GSR is 72 percent and 87 percent, respectively.
