Scholarship athletes show promising graduation rates

Sixty-five percent of UA scholarship athletes who entered the university in 1997 graduated by last year, 18 percent more than the overall UA graduation rate.

The number is also 8 percent higher than athlete graduation rates in the previous year.

In 2002, scholarship athletes had a 60 percent graduation rate. Even that lay significantly above the overall UA graduation rate of 55 percent, which President Peter Likins has called an embarrassment.

"I think this 65 percent graduation rate is amazing, given that our student body (rate) as a whole is 55 percent," Likins said recently.

Later this semester, when the NCAA releases graduation rates from universities across the country, the UA will learn how its most recent class of graduating scholarship athletes stacks up.

If past trends hold steady, the jump in the graduation rate could push the UA from eighth in the Pacific 10 Conference, its ranking with the class of 2002, closer to the middle of the pack.

"We've been very fortunate," said athletic director Jim Livengood. "We haven't had very many people leave (early), that type of thing."

They all count against you the way (the NCAA) does it. ÷ Dick Bartsch, associate director of athletics for student services and event management

Sixty-five percent of Arizona State University scholarship athletes who entered in 1996 graduated by 2002, putting ASU fifth in the Pac-10. Stanford University had the highest rate that year, at 84 percent.

But UA athletics officials also argue that the 65

percent graduation rate doesn't accurately gauge success.

Students who leave college early to turn professional, or who transfer to other institutions, count against the university's rate, a fact the UA's athletic director says dilutes the meaning of the numbers.

"A graduation rate is not a success rate," Livengood said.

More detailed numbers are not yet available for the class of athletes who entered the UA in 1997. But of the group that entered the previous year, 93 percent of the people who didn't turn professional, transfer or leave the university in good academic standing graduated within six years.

Of the 67 scholarship athletes who entered in 1996, six turned professional, nine transferred to other schools and nine left the UA by choice. None of those students are factored into the graduation rate.

"They all count against you the way (the NCAA) does it," said Dick Bartsch, associate director of athletics for student services and event management. "We say that that's unfair."

Still, department officials say athletes are encouraged to stay in school, even when presented with lucrative outside offers. That's not an easy sell, though, especially for the superstar athletes presented with contracts that can reach into the millions.

"Agents say all the right things, so it really becomes very counterproductive for those of us trying to tell that young man, that young woman, ÎJust one more year or two more years and you'll have that degree,'" Livengood said.

Athletes must complete all required course work, even when they're traveling to competitions. The athletics department offers tutoring, a computer lab and programs designed to enhance students' learning skills, Bartsch said.

And though athletes sometimes have to miss class, Livengood said if they simply ditch, it doesn't go unnoticed.

"We tell them all the time, ÎPeople know who you are,'" he said.