A national profile of athletic academic advising in NCAA division institutions

This study was conducted to determine the current state of athletic academic advising in college athletics and to see what changes have occurred since 1981. All NCAA Division I institutions which participate in basketball and/or football were surveyed. With slightly over 68% of surveys returned, it was found that athletic academic advising had improved a great deal since 1981 but still had room for improvement. More universities have programs which offer a greater number of services with better trained counselors. Most programs however, still need additional full time staff and need to offer more services. This can only occur with the moral and financial support of the academic community. The sacrifices athletes make and the benefits they bring, both financially and in terms of publicity, should be compensated through academic support.

Ideally, every university should have an athletic academic support program with enough full time staff to adequately support all athletes with a wide range of support programs. This study shows NCAA athletic academic advising programs in Division I are not yet at this. point. They are considerably closer however, than they were in 1981.