Abstract:
The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine the relationship between athletic
spending, athletically related student aid and the academic success of student-athletes at
public and private NCAA Division I and II Institutions (with football teams). Institutional
characteristics included type of institution as well as athletic spending and athletically
related student aid for each athletic department. Academic success was measured for
Division I institutions by APR, a metric used to track yearly academic performance of
Division I athletic teams, and the Graduate Success Rate (GSR).The Division II ASR
metric was used to measure graduation outcomes for Division II athletic teams. A total of
398 institutions (122 Division I-A, 116 Division I-AA and 160 Division II with football
programs) were analyzed in this study. Data was analyzed through a series of bivariate
correlations, paired sample t-tests and moderated regression analysis. Increased athletic
spending was found to lead to greater academic success in student-athletes.
