Lowering Eligibility Requirements For Students Athletes

Do student athletes make the most of their opportunity to obtain a post-secondary education? Do they have the same academic success as those students that are not athletes? Are student athletes just “dumb jocks?” The answers to these questions might surprise you. Much research has been done to dispel the myth that athletes going to college are only there to play sports with little regard to their education. Programs have been created to assure that colleges and universities hold athletes to the same standards as the everyday student. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has decided that the “magic number” to put the “student” back into “student-athlete” is 925 (Hamilton).

Academic success is important for both high school and college athletes. To be eligible to participate, athletes must maintain a certain GPA. Student athletes that don’t make school a priority, not only miss out on playing time, but also fail to prepare themselves for the next step in their life. For high school athletes, that means prepare for college while for college athlete, it means preparing to enter the workforce. Although, both high school and

In the article Athletes and Education, Neil Petrie argues, that some colleges let student athletes get little to some amount of homework or projects in classes, while other students have to

In today’s society, there are many issues, dilemmas, and scandals that we have to face. After reading Kenneth Jost’s article about college football there is, respectively, many issues in this field. I firmly agree that the Committee of the Coalition of Intercollegiate Athletics, which is an organization that represent roughly half the FBS schools, should search for ways to force college athletes to be admitted into the school before being provided with scholarships to play. Even though everyone loves watching college athletics, the purpose of going to school isn’t to be entertained, it’s an opportunity to better your education. Although many colleges feel like this will decrease their schools win efficiency there are examples that diminish

For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances

The “No Pass/No Play” requirement drastically affects the ability for low-income students to participate in extracurricular activities. According to an article in the Washington post in 1995, The correlation between the income of students and their GPA, SAT, or ACT score is strong. Using the current requirement, the NCAA may be restricting participation in extracurricular activities to income not scores. Also, in 1995, the USDOE’s National Center for Education Statistics found that Proposition 48 would cut off more than 1/3 of low-income students and 1/10 of high-income students (Klesse, 2005). Cutoff scores are controversial because a point or half a point difference in a score can determine pass or fail; however, the standardized assessment being used as the measuring stick may require a larger difference before mastery or lack of mastery can be indicated. For example, one additional question correct or incorrect on the SAT can result in a 10-point difference in a student’s score. However, a 120-point difference is needed in the score of a SAT student before a difference in ability can be qualified (Klesse, 2005). Opponents of the “No Pass / No Play” requirements argue that minority athletes will end up

Moreover, college athletes have shown a poor academic success rate in past few years, in brief. Their academic performances were significantly low due to the distraction caused by athletic programs. Athletics are not only a distraction for athletes, but also for institutions which are holding these athletic programs. “The low graduation rates among athletics, particularly in sports like football and basketball, are alarming, although there is strong evidence that this problem is endemic to the entire academic enterprise” (“College”). Average outcome GPA of an athlete is way lower than that of a normal student in general. Missing classes regularly, missing assignments, and missing exams have been the reasons for these poor academic performance rates. Daily practices and tournaments are the reason for them to miss their academics. Another side of this argument is that athletes are given unfair advantages in academics unlike other students. They were given excessive grade changes and extra points to maintain their athletic eligibility. This situation degrades the quality of academic programs and it debases

With the help of an army of tutors they can merely try to stay eligible. There’s no reason for them to try to complete the work they are unprepared for anyways because it has nothing to do with their career aspirations.” His quote basically shows that athletes don’t need courses and classes because most of the time they are at competitions and mostly care about getting professional not about studying for the next math exam. Another argument presented by most supporters of the opposition is that college athletes shouldn’t be paid because they receive world class amenities and training to be professional. to support this claim Ricky Burton from US News states “But even removing this educational asset from the equation, NCAA Division I athletes still receive expert coaching (that could lead to a professional career as an athlete or as a coach), on-campus housing, frequent meals (if not elaborate training tables), non-uniform clothing, free medical consultation, free access to state-of-the-art training facilities and free professional development (media/public relations, life skills, networking, etc.). That all has to count for something, right?”. However, many athletes regardless of the value of money they are getting from these amenities many athletes live in poverty according to a research done by the NCPA

Understanding the stringent rules employed by the N.C.A.A., the administrators of the university saw it fit to develop fake classes that student-athletes would attend and receive A 's and B 's. No one should fault the school alone because the pressure that some of these student-athletes undergo is enormous, and they find it hard to keep up with schoolwork. All universities have minimum academic requirements that they should adhere to when selecting freshmen students. Gurney posits the N.C.A.A. has specified the minimum academic requirements for universities selecting first-year student-athletes. Some of these requirements are followed, but since the high school test scores are low, the students find it difficult to cope with college academics.

If the college athletes don’t have good enough grades they would be ineligible. The school would out of

The NCAA proclaimed this rule because they felt that athletes who are working for alumni that have a tight relationship with the school will be treated more with better care and receive special benefits and stipends. These rewards that can be received include the following; college athletes who are still paid when not at work or athletes that are receiving a higher raise than their fellow co-workers.(Anstine 4) Also, another predicament dealing with college athletes working is the time confliction. College athletes now-a-days have very busy schedules that they have to follow and once they are finished with their schedules for today, athletes do not have that much time on their hands. College athletes these years are now required by the NCAA to have at least four classes, which is a minimum of twelve credit hours, at the start of the semester and are required to only pass three classes or nine credit hours by December which is the also the end of the semester. With this having to be achieved, most athletes spend countless hours studying, doing homework and attending class every day. Besides the fact that student athletes study and attend class all day, they also have practice too. Attending practice and

While some individuals overlook the numerous requirements of college athletes, it is one of the

Playing a sport in college is equivalent to working a full-time job (Thomas). There are rules that allow major-college football coaches to only demand twenty hours of the players time each week (Wieberg). However, studies show that those athletes are doubling those hours per week during the season (Wieberg). Other sports are putting in the equivalent of a full time work week (Wieberg). Some NCAA officials are concerned with the amount of time spent stating that beyond forty hours is inhumane (Wieberg). Most of the athletes compete and do whatever it takes to succeed, so they enjoy spending countless hours on sports (Wieberg). Many athletes even have struggles in the classroom because they do not have enough time to study. Student-athletes at top Division

The National Collegiate Athletic Association should modify certain D1 guidelines to help athletes' college careers more successful academically and athletically, more specifically, the athletes in non-revenue sports that have the ability to split up scholarships. Splitting the scholarship means that they can give athletes different levels of scholarships such as books and fees, just tuition, a stipend, or a combination of any of the above instead of an all or nothing scholarship. The guidelines that have stood out to have the biggest negative affect have been the rules on athletes accepting extra money or other compensation, and the time constraints given to the athletes.

Despite the many stereotypes that are connected with being a student athlete, student athletes in general are held to much higher standards by their institutions. Before a prospective student athlete even enters college, they are made fully aware of the academic standings and requirements of the college they choose. Although the academic requirements vary from college to college, the standards are still held high for all student athletes. The transition into college can be exceptionally difficult especially for the