Running head: RESEARCH PAPER- ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES FOR SA

Academic Support Services for Student Athletes

Jenna Winger
July 24, 2014
SPM7030
Wright State University

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As many know in the college experience, athletics is a huge part of it. At bigger division 1
schools where the athletic department makes money, it is easy for everyone to forget that the athletes are
students first and athletes second. This has caused much controversy in the past between academics and
the athletic department. Today, it has become second nature that student-athletes are students first and
academic obligations need to be completed as well as practices, weight training, game participation, and
other items determined by the coaches. Many as the main attraction to a university have described
athletics whether students play or not as it gives non-athlete students a place to show school spirit. As the
National College Athletic Association (NCAA), has regulated college athletes for over 100 years, certain
rules have changed and adapted to the needs of the athletes and the ever-changing educational regulations.
As the NCAA saw the drop in graduation rates for athletes across the country due to the high
demand as an athlete, the NCAA created a program to provide the holistic development of the studentathletes. The program CHAMPS/ Life Skills Program is named to emphasize the challenges of athletes
for individual success. This program included success with academics, personal goals, athletics, and life
in general after graduation. The participating institutions are provided with materials to ensure the
learning of necessary skills for success not only while in school but also in future careers. Events for the
program included speakers, workshops, and orientations for incoming students, community service
projects as a team or department, and gatherings to develop relationships outside of the specific teams.
For the first year, 1991, of implementation, over 40 institutions participated, since then it has expanded
near 300 institutions throughout all divisions (National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA], 1999).
One change is that graduation rate is now how institutions are viewed as success or failures; this
allowed the NCAA to invent the APR where it can keep a close eye on teams that are having issues with
eligibility and retention of players. Student-athletes have twice the challenge, keeping up with the
demands academically and athletically. Many coaches recruit mainly based on talent of the players, as
they want to win games, to where many student-athletes have lower test scores then the main body of
students. This causes student-athletes to need more assistance to stay above the guidelines to remain
eligible to participate as well as stay a student at the institution. Because of the regulations, demands put

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upon them, student-athletes are treated differently than the general student body. A reason that students
leave an institution is due to the feeling of loneliness as well as cause a negative reaction to the college
experience. The teams with the highest level of this feeling include football as well as basketball due to
the grueling schedules in season and in the off-season (Carodine, Almond, & Gratto, 2001). With
participation in athletes there was a higher satisfactory with the overall college experience creating a
higher motivation to succeed in classes to stay eligible to play (Ridpath, 2010).
From a survey of twenty-seven mens and womens athletic teams, about academic support
services and how the student-athletes perceive their significance for the student-athletes to graduate, it
was found that males used the services more than females unless otherwise mandatory by a coach. The
participants of this study were student-athletes from a non-bowl series championship division 1 football
bowl series. For student- athletes that believe they could not have graduated without using the services
was 50 out of the 190 participants for a little over one fourth of the focus group. Student-athletes that
believed they did not need the services to graduate were mainly female at 21.5% and males at 19.4%
making up to about 40% of the participants. The rest of the participants were neutral to the idea that the
services used had any effect on their graduating or not. Ethnic minorities were also reported as needing
the services provided to them to remain eligible through the years as well as to graduate on time. Another
way to look at how the services are needed past gender and ethnicity would be by team, including where
football, mens basketball and becoming more prevalent in womens volleyball to sustain eligibility and
graduate. It also became prevalent from responses to the survey for who was the biggest influencer on the
student-athletes academic success, that coaches and coaching staff members were the greatest (Ridpath,
2010).
From dealing with the demands, criticisms and praises from everyone including people that the
student-athletes have never met, causes strains from role conflict and role strains to misuse and value
separation. Role conflicts include trying to be a student while also an athlete and role strains include
meeting the expectations laid out for the student-athletes by professors, coaches, families, and themselves.
The misuse includes making the athletic responsibilities above the responsibilities of being a student as a

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priority and the value separation is caused from personal values may be different from those of what the
sport and coaches want. There are numerous people that watch student-athletes very closely in and out of
the institutions whether bad or good most are assisting as needed. Academic advisors have an important
position in making sure student-athletes maintain their eligibility, are taking the correct courses for
majors, refer the student-athlete for tutoring as well as set up the service if necessary, oversee study hall
or study tables, and provide personal and sometimes career counseling when needed. Without academic
advisors to be the overseers of the services to ensure the student-athletes are gaining the most, some
student-athletes would manage to be lost in the action and end up losing eligibility or being dismissed for
the institution all together. It is the goals of everyone at an institution to assist the student-athletes with
career development past graduation, academic counseling early on as it is nearly impossible to change
majors, and with the development of the holistic person. For these goals to work, it is crucial for student
affairs and the athletic department to work closely together to provide the services that the general student
body receives to student-athletes without replicating a service that is already there, like orientation or
career counseling. As a way to ensure the student-athletes are receiving the necessary services to
succeed, evaluations are given throughout the college career as well as an exit interview before
graduating, and sometimes coaches are asked for feedback on the services as they may see or hear about
something that is needed (Carodine et al, 2001).
A lot of studies on the subject of academic support services for student-athletes revolve around
what the student-athletes believe to be true, this one focuses on what the 106 athletic director and the 106
senior student affairs officers see as the most important and the least important services by the
observation and data collected. The most important services include tutoring services, educating about
study skills, and offering academic advising specifically to student-athletes who have been trained in the
regulations of the NCAA. The least crucial services include preparing for retirement from athletics,
maintaining personal finances, and boosting campus involvement beyond athletes. These responses were
derived from NCAA division 1-A institutions. The services that were provide the majority of the time at

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institutions are tutoring services, academic advising, orientation for incoming freshman as well as transfer
students, and some sort of study assistance whether study tables or study halls (Pope & Miller, 1999).
An example of a program for incoming freshman at a NCAA division 3 institution, Western New
England College, is an Academic Mentoring Program. This program includes a study hall for a semester
for all incoming freshman to join twice a week for an hour each to work on assignments as well as receive
training from study coaches on skills necessary to succeed. Student-athletes who find themselves on
probation will also have to attend study hall sessions until otherwise noted. Another piece to the program
is the supplemental instructions that are to help freshman with general education courses. As with many
schools, tutoring services are offered to all students especially student-athletes. With progress monitoring
by academic advisors and early on communication when the student-athlete shows signs of having trouble
in a class to ensure the success and retention of all freshman student-athletes (Retain more freshman,
2010).
The NCAA evaluates the institutions on the type of services offered as well as gives
recommendations to improve services. A committee evaluated Appalachian State University, ASU, in
2009. The teams at ASU were all above the minimum APR so no sanctions were distributed from the
NCAA. Some key points from the evaluation that ASU athletic department had a strong hold on was the
communication between all departments on campus around what students needed especially studentathletes. Communication is important to ensure student-athletes remain eligible and progress towards
their degrees. Some essentials with academic advising were the one on one advising every semester at
least and if needed more frequently. As throughout this paper, tutoring services is a hot issue for studentathletes, as many have to miss classes for traveling and games, it is essential that the tutors are top notch
and to ensure this ASU maintains a handbook that is reviewed annually by the director of tutoring
services. Another great program with study hall that ASU has is that it is mandatory that student-athletes
bring academic work and if the student-athlete does not he/she is marked absent and is given a week to
make up the missed time. ASU has a full time learning specialist to ensure that the student- athletes are
learning to their potential. For at risk student-athletes, a study coach meets with them for 30 minutes

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during study hall to discuss the needs as well as make sure the student-athletes are on track. Another
feature for at- risk student-athletes is being paired up with a graduate student to work more strongly with
on skills needed to succeed (NCAA, 2009).
Academics and athletics do not always get along as positively as they should but one athletic
director was determined to change that. At Princeton University, athletic director, Gary Walters, had
always wanted to strengthen the relationship between athletics and academics as both are crucial in a
student-athletes life. He created a program called Princeton Academic Athletic Fellows Program that asks
volunteers from faculty and staff to pair up with a sports team and be their mentor. The sports teams are
from basketball and football to mens hockey and womens crew. This type of program allows the
participants see how the demands of the other department strain the student-athletes where the support
services are needed and develop a shared respect and understanding (AD creates, 2010).
In conclusion, it is a definite theme that academic support services are essential to a studentathletes success. It is also a common misconception that student-athletes are given everything and that it
is not needed, this may be true for the scholar student-athletes, but as stated earlier it is a trend that a lot
of the talented athletes have lower test scores then the general student population. With having lower test
scores, some student-athletes may come to college unprepared as high school teachers may have passed
the student along so that he/she could continue to play sports. This can cause even greater challenges in
college for the student, as the assumption is the students have the skills to study and succeed in college
level coursework upon high school graduation. The student-athletes talent gives them a better chance of
attending a school they would have not otherwise been able to be admitted allowing more student-athletes
to attend their dream schools (Ridpath, 2010). The benefits of academic support services are tremendous
when observing the graduation rate as at most schools; it is higher for student-athletes versus the regular
study body. This data alone can provide the conclusion that the services do make a difference in retention
as well as graduation rates.

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References
AD creates academic support program for student-athletes. (2010). College Athletics and The Law, 7(7).
3. doi:10.1002/catl
Carodine, K., Almond, K.F., & Gratto, K.K. (2001). College Student Athlete Success Both In and Out of
the Classroom. New Direction for Student Services, 93. 2-33. Retrieved from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=0245ef47-c83a-49ea-9666-8946f79be8b1%40sessionmgr113&vid=5&hid=107
National Collegiate Athletic Association. (1999). NCAA CHAMPS/ Life Skills Program. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED435366.pdf
National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2009). NCAA Academic Support Services Evaulation 2009.
Retrieved from http://www1.appstate.edu/dept/irp/IR/2009_10_academic_
%20support_services_evaluation.pdf
Pope, M.L. & Miller, M.T. (1999). Support Services for Student- Athletes: Athletic Department and
Student Affairs Officers Perceptions. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED437886.pdf
Retain more freshman athletes with comprehensive academic support program. (2010). College Athletics
and The Law, 6(10). 4-5. doi:10.1002/catl
Ridpath, D. (2010). Perception of NCAA Division I Athletes on Motivations Concerning the use of
Specialized Academic Support Services in the Era of Academic Progress Rate. Journal of Issues
in Intercollegiate Athletics, 3. 253-271. Retrieved from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=0245ef47-c83a-49ea-9666-8946f79be8b1%40sessionmgr113&vid=4&hid=107

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Tailor support services to fit student-athletes needs. (2013). College Athletics and The Law, 10(3). p4.
doi:10.1002/catl