INDIANAPOLIS — College athletes are continuing to graduate at a record rate.

For the second consecutive year, the NCAA said Wednesday, the graduation rate was 79 percent for student-athletes entering college in 2002-03, meaning they earned their diplomas within six years. That ties last year’s record for a single class.
It is also the same percentage as the four-class average of those entering school between 1999 and 2002 — a new record and one percentage point higher than a year ago.
According to federal statistics, college athletes are still graduating at a higher rate than the overall student body. Those stats shows 64 percent of athletes graduate over the same period, 2 percentage points higher than other students.
Federal numbers are lower because they do not take into account the performance of transfer students. For example, if an athlete enrolls at one school, then transfers to another, neither school receives credit when that athlete graduates. The federal number is also based on the four-class average.
When broken down by sport, women’s teams met or exceeded the overall average in both reports in every sport except bowling. Women’s basketball teams had an 83 percent graduation rate under NCAA guidelines and 64 percent in the federal report.
The three biggest men’s sports — football, basketball and baseball — all failed to top 70 percent in the NCAA report.
Men’s basketball and Football Championship Subdivision teams had the lowest rates of any sports, coming in at 64 percent under NCAA calculations. Basketball players scored 48 percent on the federal report, while FCS athletes were at 54 percent.
Baseball produced the lowest number, 47 percent, under federal guidelines. That number is 69 percent in the NCAA report.
Football Bowl Subdivision teams came in at 67 percent (NCAA) and 55 percent (federal).
Of the top 10 teams in the BCS standings, Cincinnati, now fifth in the standings, was the only school to top 70 percent in both reports. Texas, which is third in the standings, and Georgia Tech, which is seventh, had the lowest scores. Both came in at 49 percent (NCAA) and 41 percent (federal).
And half of the top 10 teams in the BCS standings — Florida, Texas, Boise State, Georgia Tech and LSU — failed to reach 50 percent on the federal report.






AP-WS-11-18-09 1542EST