Houston Industries fund helps students

GPA requirement could mean rise in grad rate

By Dan Carnevale
The Daily Texan (UT-Austin)

AUSTIN (U-WIRE) -- A Texas legislator is pushing for the creation of a statewide minimum academic standard for student athletes to improve graduation rates.

"We've got to do something to make sure these athletes have a fighting chance to graduate," Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston, said.

Wilson filed a bill that calls for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to create the academic standards, which could include a minimum grade point average. The board could also track the graduation rates of student athletes and use the information to assess the performance of each university.

If the coordinating board finds a university noncompliant with the standards, that school would be barred from using state funds or student fees to support athletic events until a compliance agreement can be reached with the board.

If the university doesn't fix the problem within a year, it would be barred from participating in intercollegiate athletics for two years.

The bill would deter universities that "use and abuse" their athletes without making any special effort to ensure they graduate, Wilson said.

"At the end of the day, the school gets the money, but the student doesn't graduate," Wilson said.

The NCAA stipulates that athletes have to choose a major and complete 25 percent of its requirements by their junior year. Each subsequent year, the student must have completed 25 percent more of the major requirements.

Failure to meet any of these rules bans the student from NCAA competition.

Ray Grasshoff, public information officer for the coordinating board, said the board does not track academic performance of student athletes separately from other students.

"We'd have to establish whatever level indicates adequate performance," Grasshoff said. "How we'd do that, I don't know right now. We'd have to see what the final version of the bill looks like."

The coordinating board would most likely meet with the state colleges and universities and come to an agreement on what constitutes the most fair standards, Grasshoff said.