Why Athletes Graduate or Don't Graduate

An article in The San Francisco Chronicle explores why the basketball and football players at some universities graduate at much higher rates than others. The piece focuses on the relatively low rates at the University of California at Berkeley, which stands out for low rates particularly among institutions respected for their academics. The article notes that the University of California at Los Angles admits far more under-qualified students than does Berkeley (by the universities' own standards), 100 to 36 this year. But in graduation rates, UCLA outpaces Berkeley in both football (82 percent to 44 percent) and men's basketball (60 percent to 38 percent).