The National Collegiate Athletic Association has announced that graduates from 15 private schools won’t be eligible for athletic scholarships in the 2006-07 school year.
Many of the 15 schools—often characterized as “diploma mills”—have been highlighted in media reports as places where athletes enroll to pump up their grade point averages by completing easy academic work and continue competing in athletics. The inflated GPAs help the athletes meet academic requirements to qualify for scholarships at NCAA institutions.
The schools are located in California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
The Indianapolis-based NCAA said in its announcement last week that it would continue investigating other schools it suspects of providing an inadequate education to aspiring college athletes. The group may announce by July 1 other schools whose graduates will be ineligible for scholarships next school year.
The NCAA will continue investigating schools after July 1, but the results of those reviews won’t change athletes’ eligibility for 2006-07, it said.
