<p>The six-year graduation rate at Ohio State is 68%, and that’s before one accounts for race/income status and graduation rates. So 55% for the football team may in fact be better than that of the “average” low-income, minority student, and perhaps better than ND’s 95% rate, relative to their race/class peers (more data needed). And this is even before accounting for the success of those who DO turn pro (which, again, may have been the educational goal.)</p>
<p>I am not suggesting that I “like” this situation. Frankly, I think the colleges should be paying the football players as professionals, especially since there is such a high rate of injury, or they should get rid of the teams all together. But some students who would have received no college education at all receive 2 or 3 years as a result of football, and I think that is a good result, regardless of whether they graduate. (And at USC, such a high proportion do end up with at least short but high-paying pro careers that the economic payout of “some college” is higher than it might have been for graduating.)</p>