You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
High graduation rates for African-American men's basketball players are "fueling an all-time high graduation success rate for Division I college athletes," the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Tuesday. Over all, according to the NCAA, 80 percent of Division I men's basketball players graduated within six years, including 77 percent of black players -- a three percentage point increase from last year. The graduation success rate for all Division I athletes was 86 percent.
“This is a hugely significant and extremely important moment,” Mark Emmert, the NCAA's president, said. “Over the last 15 years, the overall graduation success rate has dramatically improved, but the really good news is how college sports helps more and more minority students, especially those playing our highest-profile sport, earn a degree that will help them long after their athletics career is over.”
The NCAA's metric for measuring graduation, the graduation success rate, has its critics, however, as it excludes players who have transferred. Other studies on Division I athlete graduation rates, in particular black athletes in revenue sports like men's basketball and football, have found lower graduation rates.
