Athlete graduation rates climb steadily higher

By Adam Alterman
Contributing Reporter

When it comes to college athletics, graduation rate is always a closely monitored topic. Universities in the last decade have been praised or scolded based on the rate at which they graduate their athletes.

The 2002 student-athlete graduation rate was 74 percent, the highest it has been in the past five years. This rate climbed one percent from the previous year, and three percent since 1997.

Currently, the NCAA is in the midst of processing the comparison of graduation rates of all universities for 2002.

The university rate for 2001 ranks in the top half of the ACC, placing right behind that of Duke and University of Virginia. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ranked below the university. After these four schools, the graduation dropped out of the 70 percent range and place from low 60s to mid-50 percent.

In comparison to the overall graduation rate for student athletes at the NCAA Division I level, the university placed 14 percentage points higher, as the average was 59 percent for NCAA D-IA.

Once the NCAA Division I publishes its 2002 statistics, exact number comparisons can be made between the university and other ACC and Division IA schools.

It is believed that the comparisons for 2002 should continue to be similar to that of 2001.

Graduation rates are affected by three influences. First, any athlete who decides to leave school early affects the rate.

Second, any student-athlete who decides to transfer from Wake Forest to another university lowers the graduation rate. Third, if any student-athlete is dismissed by the school for any reason, that dismissal counts against the rate as well.

For example, the women's tennis team was one of many that lost a member to professional teams this year, thus lowering the graduation rate. Bea Bielik, one of the team's leading members, decided to leave a year early to play professional tennis.

"I think it depends on what situation you're in," said junior Elizabeth Proctor, one of Bielik's teammates. "I think its important to finish a college education and try to see how well you do in the pros after graduation."

"Losing a No. 1 player is definitely going to impact us," Proctor said. "It was a disadvantage to us, but it has brought us all closer and made us more aware of what we have to do if we want to finish college before looking at going pro."

HBO's Real Sports and ESPN's Outside The Lines have recently explored this topic, focusing on such universities as University of Cincinnati, University of Arkansas and Duke University.

News Editor Tom Clark contributed to this article.