Student athletes turn to 'diploma mills' to improve their GPA

Florida authorities are investigating a Miami-based correspondence school, University High, that is accused of encouraging low-performing athletes to transfer out of regular schools and enroll in its program. Students allegedly were able to raise their grades quickly in undemanding courses and, at graduation, report grades that qualified them for college athletic scholarships.

The New York Times, which broke the story Nov. 27, reported that at least 28 high school football players used University High in their bid to gain scholarships, and 14 ultimately signed with Division I football programs.

Although the incident has focused attention on the eligibility rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), it also serves notice to local school boards that their academically borderline athletes are feeling the pressure of higher academic expectations.

That pressure has been mounting -- admittedly, on an uneven basis nationwide -- since 1984, when Texas adopted its controversial no-pass, no-play rule as part of state­wide education reforms.

Since then, a sizable number of state boards of education, athletic associations, and local school districts have toughened the academic standards required for students to maintain eligibility in sports.

That isn’t necessarily a problem, however, say many coaches, teachers, and administrators. The vast majority of student athletes, they say, are doing just fine under the tougher rules.

One educator who shares that opinion is Michael Healey, superintendent of the Lake Lehman, Pa., school district, which toughened its policy last year. Previously, the district followed the state athletic association rule that students must pass at least four courses to play sports, which meant a student could fail two courses and still maintain eligibility.

Under the district’s new policy, students must pass every course on a week-to-week basis to play. “For a student to maintain a 70 grade is not unattainable,” Healey explains. “It’s not unreasonable. It’s not that difficult if a student comes to school, participates in class . . . takes notes and pays attention, does the homework, and provides some study time for tests.”

The argument might sound reasonable, but there are valid counterarguments that have left policymakers debating how high to set the academic bar. In Iowa, state officials are in the process of adopting a tougher no-pass, no-play rule, but some sports enthusiasts have argued that low-performing athletes will be punished without regard to whether they’re doing the best they can in class.

For these students, it’s argued, participation in sports plays a major role in keeping them in school.

Another argument is that too-demanding standards will encourage low-performing athletes to take the minimal number of courses -- and discourage them from taking academically rigorous courses -- out of fear they’ll lose their eligibility.

The debate has been “so emotional,” says Kathi Slaughter, spokesperson for the Iowa State Board of Education. “People get pretty emotional . . . especially [when it] appears to be disenfranchising some students.”

Such diverging views have left the nation with a hodgepodge of eligibility rules, and several states have debated their eligibility rules more than once in recent years. Meanwhile, local school boards have taken it upon themselves to set additional eligibility rules for their students.

Such local rules have prov­en no problem for Jim Uttecht, athletic director for the West Central School District in Hartford, S.D. The district’s no-pass, no-play policy hasn’t hurt his high school football team, the Trojans, which boasts a 23-game winning streak and five consecutive state titles.

A small number of athletes at West Central High run afoul of the eligibility rules each season, he says, but, for the most part, “everyone manages to get their grades up. . . . They have to.”

Where student athletes still can squeak by with as many as two failing grades in a semester -- or where schools have allowed athletics to overshadow academics -- those with dreams of a college scholarship are eventually shocked to discover that talent alone isn’t always enough.

Although hardly demanding, NCAA rules do require students to earn a minimum 2.0 grade point average, with the requirements on a sliding but slightly more demanding level for Division I schools. But that’s the minimum bar. According to NCAA spokesperson Kent Barrett, most colleges and universities want “students who can do the academic work.”

That’s not to say every college sports program puts academics ahead of sports -- or that there aren’t students who try to circumvent the rules. Last year, for example, talented Washington, D.C.-area student athletes -- one allegedly at the advice of a college coach -- intentionally failed to graduate from their high schools, so they could repeat 12th grade at a prep school and raise their grades to meet NCAA eligibility rules.

NCAA officials say they’re working to close such loopholes, but Barrett suggests that such horror stories are isolated cases. The odds against winning an athletic scholarship are so great that few students see any incentive in cheating.

Besides, says Duane Warns, assistant commissioner with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the vast majority of high school coaches and principals firmly believe that education -- not athletic prowess -- is the key to a student’s future.