Grad rates of Bronco athletes remain high
By Alison Fleck
For the third-straight year, Santa Clara has the highest student athlete graduation rate in the West Coast Conference and is second only to Stanford in California.
Athletic Director Dan Coonan believes this is because Bronco athletes are in college for the right reasons.
"They attack the academic work load here with the same fervor that they attack their sport," Coonan said.
Each year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association compiles a report showing how many scholarship student athletes graduate from their institutions throughout the United States. This year's report examines a four-year rolling average ending with freshmen entering school in 1997-98.
Santa Clara student athletes graduated at a four-year average rate of 78 percent, while the overall student body graduated at a rate of 82 percent. This ranks them second behind Stanford, whose four-year average rate for student athletes was 87 percent.
"To be second among the WCC schools, and I think second among the entire West Coast is pretty amazing and definitely something to be proud of," Coonan said. "It's Santa Clara's academic reputation that contributes to our success."
Santa Clara's student athlete graduation rate according to the NCAA statistical analysis report is considerably higher than the NCAA Division I average of 60 percent for all student athletes and the 71 percent average for Division I private institutions.
Coonan says Santa Clara does not have student athletes who take easy academic workloads.
"We have men basketball players majoring in physics, math, engineering and I'm thinking 'Wow'," Coonan said.
For simplicity, the NCAA only keeps track of the scholarship athletes because of the large number of collegiate athletes.
One of the main reasons Stanford is always ranked first is because most of their sports are fully funded. In comparison, there are a total of 90 scholarships for Santa Clara teams.
"Stanford could have 200 scholarships divided among 400 students, but we have only 90 divided among about 300 students," Associate Athletic Director Richard Kilwien said.
Only 33 percent of student athletes receive scholarships. Senior cross country runner Robin Bell explains why her team always wins the highest grade-point average award each year.
"The discipline it takes to train and race the way that we do translates into discipline in the classroom also," Bell said. "It is definitely a balancing act between running, school work and any kind of social life, but we're able to do it because we have the dedication to all three aspects of our lives."
Kilwien sees this attitude in almost all athletes.
"I think we recruit student athletes who are serious about academics," he said. "And this is an academically sound institution. You can't get in unless you have the appropriate grades and background."
* Ã Ã Contact Alison Fleck at (408) 551-1918 or afleck@scu.edu.