Minority Student Athletes Hit Hardest By Stricter NCAA Eligibility Rules

By Kerry A. White

Fewer minority and low-income high school student athletes are passing academic muster under the NCAA's tougher, tighter eligibility requirements, while prospective college athletes overall are performing at somewhat higher academic levels, according to three NCAA studies released last week.

The studies are the first to gauge the effects of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's controversial academic standards known as Proposition 16. Since 1996, these standards have required prospective college athletes to take more academic courses and achieve higher grade point averages and college-entrance-exam scores. ( "New NCAA Rules May Bench Some Athletes," Sept. 6, 1995.)

In 1995, when student athletes entered colleges under less-stringent academic standards known as Proposition 48, 6.3 percent of prospective freshman athletes were declared ineligible for intercollegiate competition, according to data from the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse. In 1996, the figure...