2008 Woodie Awards
PUC students on the whole struggle, not just athletes
Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
The academic ineligibility of eight men's and one women's basketball player after fall semester was a heavy blow to the university, both in terms of public relations and athletics.
The men's season was canceled and the women were forced to pick up a walk-on. The situation got the attention of national media and was a source of embarrassment for everything PUC.
Students discussed it in the hallways and The Chronicle criticized the athletic department heavily.
We all felt a bit of shame.
But upon further review, it's easy to see the academic progress of our student-athletes was indicative of the academic progress of the general student population.
Undergraduate enrollment during the 2004-05 school year - the most recent year with valid statistics - was 8,283, but only 1,074 degrees, both associate and baccalaureate, were earned. Only 774 of those were baccalaureates.
The university strives to improve its six-year graduation rate. The goal, it can then be assessed, is for one sixth of the undergraduate population to graduate each year.
Seven hundred and seventy four is not one sixth of 8,283. In fact, it's not quite one tenth. One sixth would be 1,381.
The six-year graduation rate during the 1998-99 school year was 23.6 percent, according to the PUC office of planning and institutional research.
But even that didn't compare to our "peer schools," schools comparable to our own. Their average six-year graduation rate was 41.4 percent in 1998-99.
Those institutions include Kennesaw State, University of Central Oklahoma, University of Massachusetts - Boston, University of North Carolina - Greensboro, University of North Carolina - Wilmington, University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, William Paterson, University of Michigan - Dearborn, Kean University and Southern Illinois - Edwardsville.
What is even more striking is PUC's one-year retention rate. From 2001 to 2005, it hovered around 60 percent, peaking at 63.9 percent and hitting a valley of 59.6 percent. This means only about 60 percent of students who begin school at PUC actually stay for their first full academic year.
So, before you chastise the athletic department take a look around the hallways you walk through and the classrooms where you study.
This does not to excuse the former student-athletes who couldn't make the grades, but on the whole the rest of us aren't much better.
The men's season was canceled and the women were forced to pick up a walk-on. The situation got the attention of national media and was a source of embarrassment for everything PUC.
Students discussed it in the hallways and The Chronicle criticized the athletic department heavily.
We all felt a bit of shame.
But upon further review, it's easy to see the academic progress of our student-athletes was indicative of the academic progress of the general student population.
Undergraduate enrollment during the 2004-05 school year - the most recent year with valid statistics - was 8,283, but only 1,074 degrees, both associate and baccalaureate, were earned. Only 774 of those were baccalaureates.
The university strives to improve its six-year graduation rate. The goal, it can then be assessed, is for one sixth of the undergraduate population to graduate each year.
Seven hundred and seventy four is not one sixth of 8,283. In fact, it's not quite one tenth. One sixth would be 1,381.
The six-year graduation rate during the 1998-99 school year was 23.6 percent, according to the PUC office of planning and institutional research.
But even that didn't compare to our "peer schools," schools comparable to our own. Their average six-year graduation rate was 41.4 percent in 1998-99.
Those institutions include Kennesaw State, University of Central Oklahoma, University of Massachusetts - Boston, University of North Carolina - Greensboro, University of North Carolina - Wilmington, University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, William Paterson, University of Michigan - Dearborn, Kean University and Southern Illinois - Edwardsville.
What is even more striking is PUC's one-year retention rate. From 2001 to 2005, it hovered around 60 percent, peaking at 63.9 percent and hitting a valley of 59.6 percent. This means only about 60 percent of students who begin school at PUC actually stay for their first full academic year.
So, before you chastise the athletic department take a look around the hallways you walk through and the classrooms where you study.
This does not to excuse the former student-athletes who couldn't make the grades, but on the whole the rest of us aren't much better.
Be the first to comment on this story