December 2006

Up for discussion: Grad rates of student-athletes

Members of the UC Davis softball team attend a weekly study hall. From left to right are Jenny Corbett, Sarah O'Neill, Tracy Dean and Stacey Hains. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

As UC Davis transitions from Division II to Division I status in NCAA competition, the campus continues to keep a close eye on the education of its student-athletes.

And data newly released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association show the campus is on track.

UC Davis student-athlete graduation rates beat the Division II national averages by wide margins.

Aggie athletes also posted better graduation rates than the averages in Division I, where UC Davis is scheduled next year to begin play in all sports.

And Aggie athletes graduated at higher rates than the entire UC Davis student body.

The NCAA reported a UC Davis student-athlete graduation rate of 89 percent under federal guidelines and 93 percent under a new NCAA formula. Both rates are for student-athletes who entered school in the 1999-2000 academic year and graduated within six years.

Academics a priority

"The data show how the faculty's emphasis and the chancellor's emphasis on academics are translating into higher success rates than at any other UC campus," said Bill Kidder, a senior policy analyst in the Office of Student Affairs.

The federal formula includes only those student-athletes who receive athletics-related financial aid, and excludes transfer students. For all Division II schools, the federal formula generated an average student-athlete graduation rate of 55 percent.

The NCAA formula produces what the association calls its Academic Success Rate. It counts all student-athletes, even those who do not receive athletics-related financial aid, and transfer students. Under this formula, the national average climbed to 69 percent.

In the 2004-05 academic year at UC Davis, about 61 percent of student-athletes received financial aid based on athletic ability: 444 students on aid, out of a total of 731 student-athletes.

For the entire campus -- athletes and nonathletes alike -- UC Davis' graduation rate under the federal formula was 80 percent for students who enrolled in 1999-2000 and went on to graduate within six years, compared with the Division II national average of 46 percent.

The average Division I graduation rates under the federal formula were 63 percent for student-athletes and 61 percent for all students.

Close monitoring

Professor Linda Bisson is chair of the Academic Senate at UC Davis. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

Some people in the UC Davis community worry that the university's move to Division I will lead to an emphasis on athletics over academics.

"Yes, there is a concern that given the fact of the poorer success rate in Division I nationally versus Division II, that we too will slip," said enology and viticulture professor Linda Bisson, chair of the Academic Senate. "But we intend to monitor the situation carefully to assure that does not happen."

The administration also is monitoring the numbers, and already has compiled base line data from the Division II era for comparison with student-athletes' academic performance after UC Davis begins Division I play.

Bisson said UC Davis' 93 percent Academic Success Rate is certainly something to maintain whether the Aggies are playing in Division I or II, "and ideally we would like to aim for 100 percent to make sure our athletes have the best of both worlds -- academic achievement as well as competing against the best athletes in their sport."

Kidder said the administration "looks forward to collaborating further with the faculty to ensure that our record of academic success is sustained."

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