Powerful sports programs can bring colleges and universities millions of dollars and widespread name recognition, providing ample excuses for bending the rules on the reason for which students are supposed come to college in the first place: academics.
But officials in the Boston University athletic department, which has been able to utilize a brand new track and tennis center and is awaiting an upgraded hockey and basketball arena, say BU has high academic standards when recruiting student athletes and does not make exceptions for any students, regardless of their talents.
Athletic Director Gary Strickland said high school athletes are treated like all other applicants they must participate in the same application process as all other high school applicants.
Though many colleges and universities allow their sports teams a ‘freebie,’ which is a recruit who, because of extraordinary athletic abilities, is exempt from the academic requirements of an application to the university, BU has no such freebies for its athletic teams, according to women’s field hockey coach Sally Starr.
‘Many strong academic institutions get two or three freebies,’ Starr said. ‘Here at BU, we don’t have any freebies.’
Once a student athlete is accepted at BU, he or she is required to abide by certain standards set forth by BU and the NCAA in order to keep academic eligibility, according to coordinator of Student Athletic Support Services Karen Plescia Bator.
‘The main eligibility requirement is that the athlete is in good academic standing,’ Bator said. ‘The athlete must qualify for whatever constitutes good academic standing for their college.’
Requirements for good academic standing vary by each college. The College of General Studies’ policy requires an athlete to have a 1.0 GPA by midyear, a 1.8 GPA at the end of freshman year and a 2.0 GPA after two years.
In the College of Arts and Sciences, athletes must take at least six courses with a grade of C- or higher over one academic year. The College of Communication holds the most difficult requirements with a 2.3 minimum GPA, Bator said. Other schools’ requirements range between a 1.7 GPA and a 2.0 GPA minimum.
Student athletes must also maintain satisfactory academic progress, Bator said, and must be making progress toward a degree. Specifically, they must complete 12 credits per semester on average.
Starr and women’s tennis coach Lesley Sheehan said they look for student athletes who can handle the academic pressure of universities such as BU.
‘Academics are critical at a school like BU,’ Starr said. ‘It is a difficult school to recruit to because of the academic standards.’
But BU takes several steps to ensure the academic eligibility of its student athletes once they are at the university, Bator said.
‘Student Athlete Support Services complement the advising system in place in the schools and colleges,’ she said. ‘Academic coordinators monitor academic eligibility and progress to a degree. They make sure student athletes are in line with BU rules and with NCAA rules of academic eligibility.’
BU provides a study hall, tutors from the Educational Resource Center, group tutoring and academic skills seminars for student athletes.
And student athletes are encouraged to communicate with their professors to let them know when they may miss classes, Bator said. Some reasons for missing classes include away games and out-of-town tournaments.
According to men’s crew coach Rodney Pratt, the team requires a rower whose GPA drops below 2.5 to report to the athletic department study hall.
The policy is similar for the field hockey team, though the amount of time spent at study hall is directly proportional to the difference between her GPA and the minimum of a 2.5, according to Starr. The lower the GPA, the more time the athlete must spend at study hall.
For the women’s tennis team, there is no GPA requirement, Sheehan said. Instead, academic advisors monitor freshman athletes.
Maintaining academic eligibility is taken seriously by the coaches in the athletic department because if the student becomes academically ineligible, they can not play, practice or travel with their team, officials in the department said.
Student athletes must be enrolled at BU full-time and declare a major after two years, Bator said. Students must also complete their coursework in a time period proportional to their full stay at the university and can complete no more than 25 percent of their coursework during the summer term.
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