49 percent of GT football players graduated

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Forty-nine percent of football players who enrolled at Georgia Tech between 1999 and 2002 graduated within six years, according to the NCAA's Graduation Success Report, which was released Wednesday.

The men's basketball team graduated 38 percent of its players.

The national average for football was 67 percent, and men's basketball was 64 percent.

Tech's football GSR increased by one percentage point from last year's 48 percent, but the basketball team's rate decreased by 12 percentage points from last year's 50 percent.

The GSR is one of two academic measures compiled by the NCAA. The other -- the Academic Progress Rate (APR) -- is released in the spring and measures current athletes’ academic performance. The NCAA levies penalties for poor showings in the APR, but no penalties are associated with the GSR.

Four teams scored 100, men's golf, men's tennis, women's golf and women's tennis.

The GSR includes transfers and mid-year enrollees. Transfer students who leave in good standing don't count against the GSR score.