<p>Well, maybe…</p>
<p>It could also be that 1) athletes (especially football players) are leaving early to turn pro, which was their goal to being with, and that the chances of injury are so high (in college or pro) that it would be a really poor decision to stay in school (if you could get a couple of mil for 2-3 years of play and then return to school later without the pressure of athletics, would there be any sense, academic or economic, in turning it down?); and 2) some colleges have set up tracks toward graduation that are so easy that it makes a mockery of what a college education is supposed to be about. What may look like the development of “student-athletes” might turn out to be in fact the opposite.</p>
<p>Another key indicator would be to compare graduation rates by sport with students of the same family economic status at the same schools.</p>