UNLV graduation rate tumbles to 30 percent

Friday, Sept. 27, 2002 | 11:29 a.m.

The graduation rate for NCAA Division I athletes is on the way up across the nation but apparently on the way down at UNLV.

According to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education, the graduation rate for NCAA student-athletes on a national level has reached 60 percent for the first time since the NCAA began tracking figures 18 years ago.

But according to the same data, the graduation rate for UNLV's student-athletes over the six-year period beginning in 1995 has slipped to 30 percent (from 46 percent last year) as compared to a graduation rate of 36 percent for the general UNLV student population.

The NCAA report details the raw percentage of student-athletes who enroll as freshmen on scholarship and graduate within six years.

The new statistics would seem to refute UNLV's claim that it was making progress toward graduating its student-athletes.

But UNLV President Carol Harter called the NCAA's method of counting the graduation rates of student-athletes deceptive, saying the figures don't reflect the true number of those who graduate.

Harter said that the NCAA only counts a student-athlete as a graduate if they entered UNLV as a freshman. Those who transfer out with good academic standing are not counted as graduates of either their home institution or the institution they graduate from. Incoming transfer students or those who leave to go to the pros are also not counted.

"It's totally deceptive," Harter said. "It's an artificial number."

Harter said as a NCAA board of director, she has been working to change the way it counts the graduation rate. She is advocating new rules that count anyone who graduates from the institution, regardless of where they started their academic career.

UNLV officials estimate that if that rule applied now, it would have a 68 percent student-athlete graduation rate rather than the 30 percent reflected in the NCAA report.

The NCAA has considered sanctioning institutions if their graduation rates aren't up to par, but has held off because the counting method is believed by others to be flawed, Harter said.

Despite the controversy over the counting method, Harter said she would like to see the graduation rate go up. She attributed some of the problem to low retention rates, a subject that officials just spent two days at a retreat to discuss.

"We're really studying this institutionally because it's a major issue for us all the way around," Harter said.

UNLV Athletic Director John Robinson also promised improvement. "We can do better and we will do better," Robinson said.

"Rather than commenting on what happened in the 1995-96 year before I got here, I'd rather talk about what we're doing now. I'm occupied with trying to graduate the athletes that are at UNLV now.

"We're installing a number of programs to keep our athletes on pace to graduate. We recently raised about $250,000 that provides athletes the opportunity to attend summer school free of charge which they didn't have here before. That's a huge issue. It allows them to catch up on their classes and stay on pace to graduate. That's all athletes, not just football players."

The UNLV football team graduated only five percent of its players for the six-year period beginning in 1995 but that number increases to 52 percent when transfers are added. The basketball team showed a zero percent graduation rate for incoming freshman beginning in 1995 but 36 percent when transfers are included.

Robinson said he expects the football graduation rate to go up dramatically next year.

"This year we have 20 or 21 seniors on the team and just about all are on pace to graduate," he said.