UH graduation rate near average at 57%

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Fifty-seven percent of the scholarship student-athletes who entered the University of Hawai'i during the 1995-96 academic year earned degrees within six years, according to an NCAA survey released yesterday.

The graduation average of 60 percent for all Division I schools is the highest since the NCAA began tracking figures 18 years ago.

UH finished tied for 162nd — 55th percentile — among the 296 Division I schools in the survey. Ivy League schools and three military academies were not included because they do not offer athletic scholarships. Hampton and Maryland-East Shore declined to participate, and Texas-Corpus Christi did not join the NCAA until 1998.

"I'm happy we're at 57 percent," said Herman Frazier, who was named UH's athletic director in June.

In interviews with staff members and community leaders, Frazier said the new Nagatani Academy Center has been praised for improving academic performance.

"I think if we're able to continue with that center, which we obviously did not have six years ago, our future rates will see some upward movement," Frazier said.

The study also had a category showing graduation rates of student-athletes who entered school between 1986-87 and 1995-96, and used all their eligibility at that school. Hawai'i considers that a more accurate barometer of its progress.

Of the 477 student-athletes in that category, 73 percent graduated. That number has dropped slightly in the past nine years, while the UH student-athlete grade point average has risen; 40 percent were scholar-athletes (3.0 cumulative grade point average last spring).

In the 1994 study, 78 percent of those who exhausted their eligibility at UH graduated. That dropped to 77 percent the next two years, 76 percent the following two years and 75 percent the three years after that.

The student-athletes who entered college in 1995 were the first to be affected by tougher initial-eligibility standards. That year, a student-athlete needed to earn credits in 13 high school core classes to be eligible to play as a freshman. The previous recruiting class needed only 11 core credits.

The graduation rate among athletes remained 2 percentage points higher than the rate for the general student population. At UH, the rate for all students was 52 percent during that period.

Males at 54 percent

Of the student-athletes who entered Division I schools in 1995, male student-athletes graduated at 54 percent, up 3 percent from the previous class. Female student-athletes remained at 69 percent.

At UH, female student-athletes graduated at 86 percent and male at 48 percent. Of the transfers who entered in 1995, women graduated at 82 percent and men at 61 percent.

UH female student-athletes in basketball and cross country/track — the only two specific sports tracked — graduated at 100 percent. All other female student-athletes graduated at 82 percent.

UH football student-athletes graduated at 27 percent. Transfers graduated at 70 percent.

UH men's basketball graduated at 33 percent, which is close to the overall average of 36.

Baseball, the only other specific UH mens sport that is tracked, graduated student-athletes at a rate of 57 percent. The other men's sports, as a group, had a 75 percent graduation rate.

Tracking since 1984

The NCAA began tracking graduation rates in 1984. Since the guidelines allow six years for students to complete a degree program, results for the 1996 97 freshman class will be released next year.

Three schools in the Western Athletic Conference, of which UH is a member, were in the top 10 in overall graduation rates. Rice was No. 1 at 91 percent, SMU was No. 7 at 83 percent and Tulsa No. 10 at 80 percent.

Following Rice was Stanford (90 percent), Notre Dame (90), Duke (90), Vanderbilt (88) and Northwestern (86).

UH-Hilo was the Division II winner, graduating its student-athletes at 100 percent (30 percent for all students). UH-Hilo was also No. 1 in the percentage difference between student-athletes and overall student enrollment.

The top school in each of the three categories in the four divisions will receive $25,000. Joining Rice and UH-Hilo as winners for overall graduation rate are Davidson (Division I-AA, I-AAA) and Regis (Mass.) in Division III.

Chaminade University posted a 58-percent improvement from freshmen entering since 1994. It was the best in that category for Division II schools.

Black athlete rates low

Among black male athletes in Division I, the graduation rate was 43 percent, and 60 percent for black females.

Only 36 percent of male basketball players graduated, however, and the rate for black basketball players was 28 percent. The rate for white male basketball players was 51 percent.

"The rates are still disappointingly low," said Francis Lawrence, chairwoman of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors Task Force on Academic Reform.

Although the rates for females are higher than the men, there was no increase for women basketball athletes, who stayed at 65 percent. Black females dropped from 61 percent a year ago to 59 percent this year.