This book arrived on my doorstep a few days ago. Unfortunately, it doesn't include ice hockey individually, but does include ice hockey in the "other" category. Sports shown individually are Men's Football, Baseball, Basketball and CC/Track, and Women's Basketball and CC/Track. There are also summaries by Div I-A, -AA, and -AAA, and by Public (large and small) and Private (large and small). Graduation rates are for 1983-84 through 1986-87 entrants and various enrollment data are given for 1990-91 through 1992-93 or 1992-93 admissions. This report is limited in that it reports results only for athletes receiving "athletic aid", often in comparison with institution-wide averages. I don't know what valid observations one might make on this data, because for every average or for each distinction I've tried to make, it's been relatively easy to point out an exception! For example, you'd think the 43% graduation rate of UNLV basketball players is pretty bad, but the UNLV average for student athletes is only 35%. That looks bad, but the graduation rate for all students is only 27%! But then UNLV appears to be in a class by themselves. :-( Then there are schools like Dartmouth that don't graduate any student athletes (there is no athletic aid). The all-student graduation rate at Dartmouth is an astounding 95%! I'll make a few observations anyway ... :-) (1) Graduation rates of these student athletes generally met or exceeded the averages for an institution. In summary, for the 298 Division I schools, the report shows FRESHMAN-COHORT GRADUATION RATE All Students Student-Athletes 1986-87 Graduation Rate 55% 57% Four-Year Average 54% 53% (2) An athlete that exhausts eligibility has a much higher graduation rate (no surprise). Though 53% of student-athletes were found to graduate within 6 years, 76% of those that exhausting eligibility graduated. (58% of the athletes exhausted their eligibility. Thus only 21% of athletes not-exhausting-eligibility graduated). (3) Students and athletes at private institutions have a *much* higher chance of graduating than at a public institution. Students at large institutions are more likely to graduate than at like (public/private) smaller institutions. Public Institutions FRESHMAN-COHORT GRADUATION RATE All Students Student-Athletes 1986-87 Graduation Rate 52% 53% Four-Year Average 50% 48% Private Institutions FRESHMAN-COHORT GRADUATION RATE All Students Student-Athletes 1986-87 Graduation Rate 70% 70% Four-Year Average 68% 67% On average, however, the SAT/ACT scores were higher for the private institution than public institution student athletes. (4) Generally rates and scores were lower for basketball and football athletes, than for those of other sports. (5) There seems to be substantial variation between sports at many institutions. I list this last because it may not be valid due to relatively small numbers of student athletes involved. For example, at Maine, the "very successful" Baseball team only graduated 25% (1986-87 entrants) to 36% (four year average) whereas all other sports substantially exceeded the institution averages. Again with Maine, blacks on the football team graduated at only a 33% rate (whites were 59% and 49%) whereas blacks on the basketball team graduated at a rate far exceeding whites. I suspect these variations are substantially due to coaching and support staff, but probably other things contribute in each case. Given a stamped, self-addressed envelope, I'd be happy to send a photo-copy of your school's (2 page) data. Send to: Wayne Smith 5752 Computing Center - CAPS University of Maine System Orono, ME 04469-5752 cheers, Wayne (it's still off-season) Smith The College Hockey Discussion List administrator Systems Group - CAPS BITNET/CREN: wts@maine University of Maine System internet: [log in to unmask]