FAQs -- January
2007
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Questions To The PAAC Chairperson Here
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Academic
Success
1. Some
graduation rate statistics seem very low for certain athletic teams
and there appear to be multiple statistics. Could you explain how
these rates are computed and why they are different?
2. What
is the Academic Progress Rate and what does it attempt to measure?
Faculty-Staff Issues
3. What is the policy for student athletes who have to miss class
for games and/or practices?
4. If a
student-athlete is going to miss an exam because of travel to an
athletic event what mechanisms are in place to have the student
complete the exam?
5. What
is the ticket policy for faculty and staff and how do I get
involved?
6. I
have heard that faculty and staff who obtain tickets to Men’s and
Women’s basketball games are seated based on the number of “points”
that they have earned. What are points and how are they earned?
Where might I find more information?
Financial Support for
Athletics
7. What kind of financial support does athletics get from the
university? Is athletics self-supporting?
Academic Support for
Student-Athletes
8. What is CPIA
and what is the relationship of this group to athletics?
Certification and Compliance
9. I have heard
that athletics is going through something called Certification with
the NCAA. What is this and how does it affect our athletics
program?
10. Who
is responsible for NCAA Compliance and what are the critical issues
associated with compliance?
11.
What is the role of the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative?
Student
Athlete Behavior and Disciplinary Actions
12. Do student athletes have to comply with a different set of
academic and disciplinary rules as others students?
13.
Student athletes sometimes end up in some kind of trouble that gets
publicized in the newspaper. What does athletics do in terms of
recruiting student athlete to mitigate these kinds of issues? What
is athletics allowed to do in responding to these situations?
14. When student-athletes are involved in legal issues what is
the Division of Athletics role in
providing support for these student-athletes?
Myths & Realities
15. Aren’t most
student-athletes here pretty much to further their chances for a
career in professional sports?
16. Don’t student-athletes have special dorms and food plans that are not available to
other students?
Answers
Academic
Success
1. Some
graduation rate statistics seem very low for certain athletic teams
and there appear to be multiple statistics. Could you explain how
these rates are computed and why they are different?
There are two measures of graduation success, Graduation Success
Rate (GSR) and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems
Graduation Rate (FED Rate). Both of these measures essentially
compute a ratio of the number of student-athletes who graduate
within a six year window of having been admitted to the university
versus the number that entered the university. Since there is a six
year window in which to measure this statistic the most recent
cohort group that could be measured would be the freshmen who first
entered UConn in 1999, i.e. the 1999 cohort. This class is then
averaged with the previous three years of data to become the 1996-1999
cohort. The measures are only applied to scholarship student
athletes and not all student athletes. At UConn there are
approximately 650 student-athletes, of which 305 receive athletic
financial aid.
The FED Rate does not take into consideration transfers into or out
of the institution in calculating the rate. So, a student may have
entered the university as an athletics aided student-athlete but
then transferred to another institution (for a variety of reasons
that may not be related to academic performance). This
student-athlete would get counted in the FED Rate but in the GSR
metric there is some discounting of this individual if they would
have been academically eligible to participate had they returned to
the university. This means that the GSR measure is always equal to
or greater than the corresponding FED Rate.
Neither rate takes into consideration student-athletes who return to
the institution after the six year window to complete their
degrees. This might apply to individuals who leave the university
to pursue a professional sports career but then return to complete
their degree.
Some statistics appear very low. For instance in Men’s Basketball
in the 1996-1999 Cohort group (see link below) you would see a GSR
of 30%. During this time frame 10 student athletics were recruited
and received scholarships from the school. Three of those student
athletes graduated within the six year window. However, (as Paul
Harvey says) the rest of the story is that two more students in this
cohort graduated outside of the six year window and two have gone on
to pursue successful professional basketball careers, one
transferred (not in good standing) and two exhausted their eligibility
and left the University. It remains to be seen as to whether any of
those who left will ultimately complete their degrees. However, to
that end the Department of Athletics has a policy of continuing to
support student athletes who return to the university to complete
their degrees.
One downside of the both of these measures is that they reflect past
history and don’t tell you anything about the current student
athletes at the university. A new measure has been formulated by
the NCAA known as the Academic Progress Rate that attempts to
measure student athletes progress towards graduation. A more
complete discussion of this is captures in another FAQ.
One other caveat about the GSR report is that the GSR statistics are
reported in a four year average cohort. Because some sports have
very small numbers of student-athletes with athletics aid (or
recruited, if that sport doesn’t grant athletics aid) in a given
year if graduation rates were to be disclosed for these small
numbers (less than 5) the NCAA would have a privacy issue with the
release of that data. Therefore some statistics are not report
strictly due to privacy issues.
One last point to mention is that the calculation of these rates and
the data supporting these rates are not under the control of the
Department of Athletics but are prepared by a University committee
comprised of: the Office of Institutional Research, the Registrar’s
Office, Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletics and the
Compliance Office at the university. This group is also under the
supervision of the Faculty Athletics Representative.
GSR Rate UCONN 2006
GSR Rate UCONN 2005
FED Rate UCONN 2006
2. What
is the Academic Progress Rate and what does it attempt to measure?
The following is a direct quote from the NCAA website as to the
purpose of the Academic Progress Rate or APR:
The
NCAA has developed an incentives-disincentives program that rewards
those sports teams that do well academically and penalizes those
that do not. College presidents have mandated the development of
this system of accountability, which will take into account the
various missions of our member institutions. The goal is to
encourage improved academic performance of all student-athletes on
all sports teams.
Here’s how it works: incentives and disincentives are tied to
meaningful measures of academic performance that involve the
academic progress rate (APR), the NCAA graduation success rate (GSR),
and/or federal graduation rate data. The APR is an academic
measurement that includes primarily
currently
enrolled student-athletes. The federal methodology and the GSR do
not reflect current, actual conditions. The APR was developed to
provide a more accurate, real time “snapshot” of a team’s academic
success and to serve as a primary measurement on which incentives
and disincentives will be based. The APR is not intended to replace
the federal measure or GSR; rather, it is a fairer measure that will
help provide accurate, real-time data on academic progress on which
the NCAA will base its reform principles. The APR provides a much
clearer picture of the current academic “culture” in each sport, and
includes eligibility, retention, and graduation as factors in the
rate calculation.
APR data collection began with the 2003-04 academic year, and the
first data report was issued in February 2005 for all Division I
member institutions, assessing the previous year of academic
performance. The latest report was issued on March 1, 2006.
Historical penalties begin in 2006-07 based on three years of data.
However, member institutions are subject to contemporaneous
penalties beginning with the current academic year (2005-06).
In
our own words, the Academic Progress Rate (APR) is an attempt by the NCAA
to produce statistical evidence that Universities are making a
commitment to graduating their student-athletes. The APR process is
a ‘snapshot’ of the recent of academic success based on 2 criteria –
eligibility and retention. Student-athletes earn an eligibility
point for each semester that they meet the NCAA standards for
continuing eligibility to compete in varsity athletics. They also
earn a retention point for each semester that the institution
records them as being full-time enrolled after the 10th
day of class (census date). Each student-athlete has a possible 4
points for the academic year and the APR results for every team are
derived from the total points earned out of the total possible
points for the team. This quotient is then averaged with the
previous 3 years of data.
APR UCONN 2005
Faculty-Staff Issues
3. What is the policy for student athletes who have to miss class
for games and/or practices?
Athletics’ policy is that no student should miss a class or a
practice. For scheduled events/games it is the responsibility of
the student athlete to discuss such an event/game with the faculty
member well prior to the event. The offices of the can also supply
an official letter to the faculty member confirming the event. As
with other non-athletic university sponsored events the provost
every fall sends a message to faculty members (include a link to
that message) which asks them to give all students reasonable
accommodations when they must miss a class for university sanctioned
events. In cases where the student athlete may be missing an exam
CPIA can also assist in ensuring that the student can complete the
exam (see the FAQ on missed exams).
4. If a
student-athlete is going to miss an exam because of travel to an
athletic event what mechanisms are in place to have the student
complete the exam?
First, it is the responsibility of the student athlete to discuss
such an event with the faculty member well prior to the event. The
offices of Counseling Program For Intercollegiate Athletes (CPIA) can also supply an official letter to the faculty
member confirming the event. The student has at least three
potential options at the faculty member’s discretion. They are:
a) Take the exam early
b) Take the exam late
c) Arrange through CPIA to have the exam proctor by an academic
counselor of CPIA while the student is on the trip
Note that CPIA does not report to athletics but reports to the
Provost’s Office and therefore provides independent proctoring of
the exam.
5. What
is the ticket policy for faculty and staff and how do I get
involved?
The faculty/staff ticket policy for Women’s and Men’s basketball
tickets was formulated by PAAC in conjunction with athletics to
provide a fair and open process by which faculty and staff might be
able to participate in these athletic events. A certain number of
seat are reserved by athletics for faculty and staff at both Men’s
and Women’s basketball regular season games. The process to obtain
tickets is that during the Fall athletics puts out an announcement
and a form allowing faculty and staff to enter into a lottery for
tickets. The seasons for both men’s and women’s basketball are
divided up into various “packages” to provide more opportunities to
obtain tickets. Faculty and staff can enter into any and all
lotteries for these packages. Athletics then processes the lottery
in such a way that everyone receives at least one of their choices
before they receive a second choice. To date all faculty and staff
who have entered the lotteries have received at least one package
and frequently more than one. Obviously this depends on demand and
is not a guarantee.
In terms of seating faculty and staff are then assigned seats based
on the numbers of points that they have earned in the system.
Points are generally awarded for past purchases of athletic tickets
as well as financial contributions to athletics. See a subsequent
FAQ about how to earn points.
For other athletic events, including football, faculty and staff can
contact the athletics ticket office to obtain tickets. To date,
these other events have not been as constrained in terms of ticket
availability and so no separate process has been instituted for
faculty and staff.
6. I
have heard that faculty and staff who obtain tickets to Men’s and
Women’s basketball games are seated based on the number of “points”
that they have earned. What are points and how are they earned?
Where might I find more information?
Points are used at the university to allocate tickets that are in
high demand, particularly football and men’s and women’s basketball
tickets. The more points the more priority one has in both
obtaining tickets as well as in seat placement. Points are
generally awarded for donations to the University of Connecticut
Athletic Development Fund as well as the purchase of tickets.
Detailed information is available at
www.UConnHuskies.com.
Financial Support for
Athletics
7. What kind of financial support does athletics get from the
university? Is athletics self-supporting?
Approximately 20% of the funds to support athletics come from the
university. The remaining 80% comes from revenues generated by
athletics (60%) and fund raising (20%). The university’s
contribution comes in the form of the general university fee (13%),
support for Title IX (4%) and scholarship support (3%). However,
scholarship support which is approximately 16% of the overall
expense budget provides revenue to the university as these funds are
transferred into the academic fund to support academic just as
tuition would be. In 2005, for example, the dollar amount of
university support totaled approximately $9.4 million but
scholarships back to the university totaled $7.4 million.
Therefore, the net contribution from the university was only $2
million. Another important part of this is that the expenses to run
the student recreation center for all students is a part of the
budget for athletics. More than $1 million of the athletic budget
is used to support recreation. Football and men’s and women’s
basketball are all net contributors to the budget which allows
athletics to support other sports beyond those three. Over the last
fifteen years athletics has funded a higher and higher proportion of
its expenses moving from a budget in 1990 that was predominantly
supported by the university (60%) to 2005 in which the university’s
support was only 20%
Academic Support for
Student-Athletes
8. What is CPIA
and what is the relationship of this group to athletics?
The Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes (C.P.I.A.), the
academic support program for student-athletes at the University of
Connecticut, was established in 1986 to provide counseling,
tutorial, and academic enhancement to the University of
Connecticut’s 650 intercollegiate student-athletes. A unit with
Academic Affairs, reporting to the Provost, the Counseling Program
for Intercollegiate Athletes is charged with providing
student-athletes with the appropriate counseling, advisement,
tutorial and academic enhancement in order for them to optimize
their educational experiences and promote retention, eligibility and
graduation. The Counseling Program provides students with the
necessary skills and information in order to make a successful
transition from high school to college and from college to their
post-graduate lives. The Counseling Program is the liaison between
the academic and athletic communities on campus and the staff serves
as student-athlete advocates. Aside from its support of students,
The Counseling Program provides support to Faculty, Coaches and
other university offices in order to facilitate a positive
collegiate experience to student-athletes. Student-athletes must
comply with two sets of academic guidelines (University & NCAA) and
The Counseling Program staff advises and aids in the monitoring of
these regulations. Counselors help students balance their academic
and athletic demands without compromising their success in either
realm while encouraging their holistic development as people
prepared to meet the challenges of their collegiate experiences and
beyond.
Certification and Compliance
9. I have heard
that athletics is going through something called Certification with
the NCAA. What is this and how does it affect our athletics
program?
The
NCAA Certification Program started in 1993 and in its first
certification cycle gave full certification to the UConn Program in
1997. It is now in its second cycle of reviewing programs and UConn
is currently being reviewed in this second cycle. The cycle will
now be an every 10 year review. The purpose of the certification
process is to:
a) Open up the affairs of athletics to the university community and
public
b) Set standards, called operating principles, for the operation of
Division I athletics programs
c) Establish tough sanctions for failure to conduct a comprehensive
self-study or correct problems.
Very similar to the University’s NEASC Accreditation review a
self-study phase will be followed by a visitation team who will come
to campus to review the report and ask additional questions.
A 22 member steering committee has been formed headed by Ron Schurin
in the President’s Office with representatives from faculty, staff,
students and Board of Trustees. Three subcommittees have also been
formed. They are:
Governance and Commitment to Rules Compliance – Chair, Steve Jarvi
Academic Integrity – Chair, Carol Polifroni
Equity and Student-Athlete Well-Being – Chair, Dana McGee
(There are 57 members of these three subcommittees)
The self-study phase is underway and is due to the NCAA by May 1,
2007. As additional information is available concerning the
certification process it will appear on the PAAC website.
10. Who
is responsible for NCAA Compliance and what are the critical issues
associated with compliance?
The simple answer is that we all are responsible for NCAA Compliance
issues. The Division of Athletics has put Bill Shults, Associate
Director of Athletics, as the point person and he has Alicia Alford,
Assistant AD/Compliance, and Marielle VanGelder, Coordinator of
Compliance and Financial Aid to round out the compliance team. The
Compliance Office is responsible to ensure that the NCAA rules are
clearly explained to all student-athletes, coaches and athletics
staff as well as the University community (including any
donors/alumni and season ticket holders). Through the use of
proactive educational programs and publications, the Compliance
Office provides these various constituencies critical information to
help them understand NCAA rules. The Compliance Office also has
access to the Big East Conference and NCAA resources for rules
education and interpretive issues to provide answers not readily
available.
11.
What is the role of the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative?
The Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) is a full-time member of
the faculty who represents faculty perspective on the institution’s
conduct of its intercollegiate athletics program. The FAR reports
directly to the President of the University of Connecticut, Dr.
Philip Austin. The FAR promotes the belief that the intellectual
development of students based upon academic integrity is the primary
mission of an institution of higher education, and that the value of
extracurricular activities, such as athletics, shall be measured by
its contribution to UConn. One of the primary jobs of the FAR is to
review the academic progress of all student-athletes to verify their
academic eligibility. The FAR provides counsel to the Director of
Athletics and President in NCAA and conference policy development,
sits on athletics committees as appropriate, and, along with the
Athletic Director and President, represents UConn at conference and
NCAA meetings.
The current FAR is:
Scott Brown, Professor of Educational Psychology
Director of the Teachers for a New Era Project at UConn
Contact Information:
Phone: 860-486-0181
E-mail:
scott.brown@uconn.edu
Mail: 233 Gentry Hall (Unit 2064-TNE)
Resume: http://www.tne.uconn.edu/swb/
Student
Athlete Behavior and Disciplinary Actions
12. Do student athletes have to comply with a different set of
academic and disciplinary rules as others students?
Student athletes are subject to the same code of conduct as all
other students at the university and they are subject to the same
set of disciplinary procedures. However, in addition to the
standards set by the university there are often additional standards
that student athletes must comply with in terms of NCAA requirements
as well as team rules in order to remain eligible to compete in
their sport.
For instance, the university sets minimum GPA standards that
students must meet each semester that they are enrolled in order to
not be placed on academic probation or to be dismissed by the
university. In addition to this requirement student athletes are
required to have met certain course credit requirements to ensure
that they are making progress toward completion of their degree.
For instance, the following are two requirements that student
athletes must meet to be eligible:
* Student-athletes entering college are required to complete 40
percent of their degree requirements by the end of their second
year, 60 percent by the end of year three, and 80 percent by the end
of year four.
* Freshmen in college are required to complete 24 hours of course
work and have at least a 1.8 grade-point average.
This can sometimes present an issue for a student athlete who wants
to change majors. The student athlete may have been making adequate
progress towards their degree in the initial major but upon
switching may find that the courses taken to date do not meet the
standard of making progress in the new major.
13.
Student athletes sometimes end up in some kind of trouble that gets
publicized in the newspaper. What does athletics do in terms of
recruiting student athlete to mitigate these kinds of issues? What
is athletics allowed to do in responding to these situations?
Perhaps the first point to be made regarding the recruitment of
student athletes at UConn is that UConn has taken a strong stance on
all recruits meeting NCAA minimum academic standards in order to
ever participate in UConn athletics. The stated policy of the Big
East that was strongly support by UConn is:
A recruited or non-recruited student-athlete who does not achieve
the NCAA academic minimum qualifying standards (non-qualifier) for
athletic competition upon initial full-time enrollment at a BIG EAST
Conference member institution shall NOT be permitted to participate
in athletics at a BIG EAST Conference member institution.
During the recruitment process coaches are looking to not only
recruit the best athletes but also student athletes who are going to
be successful in their academic career. The proportion of student
athletes at UConn who even tryout for a professional sport is
typically less than 2% of the total student athlete population.
Coaches attempt to do their due diligence on the character of the
student athlete by talking with as many individuals who have contact
with the student athlete as possible (coaches, teachers,
administrators, parents etc.). However, NCAA rules put certain
restrictions on the number of times that an athlete can be contacted
and over time this has put some constraints on what a coach might
learn about a particular student athlete. If there is some issue in
the recruit’s background that is troubling then the coach along with
the athletic administration must consider whether the student is
worth the risk before making the offer. In some cases the risk is
too great and the department would decline to recruit the student
athlete. The athletics department believes in second chances for
student athletes but it also believes that students must be
responsible for themselves and beyond second chances the department
is much less forgiving.
Significant disciplinary actions by coaches are generally taken in
consultation with the Director of Athletics. In cases where there
might be a safety issue to other athletes or students an immediate
removal of the student athlete from the situation is likely the
outcome.
In terms of public response to student-athlete issues, the Division
of Athletics has to abide by the same privacy rules and standards that
are set for other students such as the FERPA laws. While the
department might prefer for all the facts to be made public they
often cannot be and therefore a frequent response that they must
give to the press is “no comment.”
14. When student-athletes are involved in legal issues what is
the Division of Athletics role in
providing support for these student-athletes?
If a student-athlete feels they need legal counsel when faced with
any issues the athletics department does not (and will not) provide
legal counsel. This is the responsibility of the student. The
Department will advise any legal counsel who retained of the
appropriate NCAA rules so that the student is not jeopardized in
terms of their non-compliance with those rules. For instance, the
counsel needs to be advised that they cannot charge a student
athlete any different rate than the one that they would charge other
students at the university.
Myths & Realities
15. Aren’t most
student-athletes here pretty much to further their chances for a
career in professional sports?
The demographics of the student athlete population at UConn are that
there are approximately 650 student athletes and only 305 receive
athletic financial aid. In any given year it is unlikely (based on
past experience) that more than 2% of these student-athletes would ever try
out for a professional team.
16. Don’t student-athletes have special dorms and food plans that are not available to
other students?
There are no special dorms for student athletes at UConn. They are
fully integrated into the array of dorms available at UConn. The
NCAA and UConn prohibit establishing an athletics residence hall, so
no more than 50% of the residents may be athletes. There are
special meal plans for student athletes called training tables, in
which specific food has been prepared for the student athletes to
maximize their physical and mental development, while maintaining
strength, speed, flexibility and endurance. NCAA rules allow a
student-athlete to have one training table meal a day in an
athletics sponsored eating facility during the academic year. All
other meals are either in a regular meal plan or the student’s
responsibility.
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Questions To The PAAC Chairperson Here
