As many as 410 athletic teams in the nation’s elite Division I universities could lose some of their scholarships unless they improve their student-athletes’ academic performance, according to a preliminary report from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Under new NCAA standards, universities would lose points for every athlete who failed to graduate or who dropped out.
The report, released late last month, says that half of all Division I institutions would have at least one team subject to penalty for falling short under the new academic standards. Most penalties would be concentrated in football, baseball, and men’s basketball.
Sixty institutions have at least three teams that would be penalized, and of those, 16 universities have five or more.
Data for the report were collected from the 2003-04 academic year. Penalties won’t be enforced until data from the current academic year are collected, giving universities some time to bring their teams up to speed.
