UCF's student athletes are more likely to graduate than students who do not participate in college sports. They are also more likely to graduate than student athletes who attend the University of Florida and Florida State University.
While our student athletes should be proud of their accomplishment, which was recently released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, you should be saddened that the rest of the student body is not as successful.
According to the study, the Overall Division I Graduation Success Rate, or GSR, for student athletes was 64 percent. Student athletes at UCF ranked at 67 percent while student athletes at UF ranked at 61 percent and students athletes at FSU ranked at 53 percent.
The GSR for all UCF students is only 63 percent while UF students ranked 82 percent and FSU students ranked 70 percent.
The most shocking aspect of the study has nothing to do with student athletes. The difference between the GSR of UCF's student athletes and UCF's students is not very large. Instead we are wondering why the GSR at UF and FSU is so much higher than at UCF.
UCF is a popular school with more than 53,000 students with a reputation as a research school as they are a top receiver of research grants. Perhaps UCF's general GSR would increase if those students received some of the same benefits that student athletes do.
The director of UCF Athletics Communications said the Academic Services for Student-Athletes staff "constantly work with people's professors and graduate student assistants to make sure student athletes are as successful as they can be." Perhaps if some of that effort was distributed evenly among UCF's general student body population, the school would not rank so low in comparison to other Florida schools.
The amount of work by the staff of the ASSA office to provide a ranking that is barely above average would not be so noticeable if the general GSR was not so low.
It seems unfair that student athletes receive so much more attention and care, but it does cost them. They pay for it in time spent in mandatory practices and competing in their sport.
As of now it seems UCF students will have to take it upon themselves to compete academically with UF and FSU. Dedicating your time and energy to graduating is the first step to ensuring success for you and your university.
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