College basketball is the crown jewel of the NCAA. For three weekends in March and April, people across the country tune in to watch thrilling upsets, Cinderella stories, and big-time performances that will live in highlight reels for years to come. Unfortunately, the quality on the court is not matched by academic success off of [...]
All Posts Tagged: 'NCAA'
Opaque Transparency
A friend and I were chatting during last week’s college football championship game about big-time NCAA sports teams, their profitability, and whether most athletic departments make money or not. I told him about Chad’s post from October on the NCAA’s annual report, which showed that all but 25 of the 119 schools in college football’s [...]
Athletics Spending Rises
The NCAA released its annual report on trends in athletic department budgets. Among the findings:
Athletics budgets now consume 5.44 percent of Division I Football Bowl Subdivision institutional budgets, up from 4.75 percent in 2006.
Although these schools have athletic departments that generate far larger revenues (mainly through football and men’s basketball) than lower division peers, [...]
This Week’s Sign of the Apocalypse
From yesterday’s InsideHigherEd news roundup:
The Volleyball Rules Committee of the National Collegiate Athletic Association has recommended that players refrain from traditional handshakes before and after matches due to concerns about the spread of H1N1. Volleyball is one of the two sports in which players from opposing teams are required by the NCAA to shake hands; [...]
Colleges Continue to Raise Tuition, Squander the Money on Sports
We all know the drill by now: Faced with a major financial shortfall, the university announces that it has no choice but to sharply raise student tuition once again. “We remain committed to providing an affordable education for all,” says the university president, in somber tones. “But we will not degrade the high academic standards [...]
WOOOOO BEARCATS!! HELL YEAH! DUKE SUCKS!!!
Or something like that? For the life of me I never even considered the possibility that my alma mater, Binghamton University, would end up going to the NCAA tournament; when I was there the hoops program was a mediocre Division III affair that would attract a couple hundred fans to games at most. So I’m [...]
Money-Sucking College Sports Programs
Per last week’s ongoing discussion of higher education, one thing nobody seems to dispute is the assertion by “Professor X” that classes like his are “a substantial profit center” for most colleges. The math isn’t hard; adjunct professors typically only get paid a few thousand dollars to teach a course that each student pays a [...]
Real Football For Thanksgiving
Tonight at 7pm (at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif) the U.S. Women’s National Team will play in the semifinals of the Women’s Gold Cup against Mexico. If they win, they go to the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
North Carolina still wins for sending the most women to play on the national team, with [...]
Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed 
College and Career-Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success
03/19/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on college graduation rates and the NCAA Tournament in the Detroit Free Press.
03/19/10 | Linda Perlstein links to Education Sector's "College- and Career-Ready" event.
03/17/10 | Ben Miller's column on graduation rates and NCAA Tournament eligibility is mentioned on The Wall Street Journal's The Daily Fix.
03/17/10 | Kevin Carey's critique of Diane Ravitch's latest book is quoted in Doublethink's Conventional Folly blog.
03/15/10 | Ben Miller pens an op-ed for US News & World Report on using graduation rates to determine NCAA Tournament eligibility.