Since its inception, collegiate football has had low retention and graduation rates for student-athletes. While admission standards are on the rise at major public universities, many under-prepared student-athletes (football) are admitted each year because they are the 'best' player in the state/country, creating academic disparities. The history, culture and economic success of the university athletic program, especially football, plays a pivotal role in explaining these disparities.

The data collected and recorded over the past two decades will demonstrate that there is a growing disparity in the academic preparedness between college students and college student-athletes (football) at 31 Division I (DI) institutions. The GPA (grade point average), SAT (Scholastic Achievement Test) scores, and graduation rates, however, do not accurately measure these discrepancies. The academic deficits of the special admit student-athlete can only be assessed through performance-based measurements of reading, writing and math. Ideally, these assessments should be done much earlier in the education process so that remediation can take place before entering college. Despite the academic support and resources available to special admit student-athletes, it is not possible to remediate and take college level degree applicable courses at the same time. The graduation rate of DI football players (50%, 2009) can be explained, then, by the low admission standards that suggest a lack of proficiency in basic academic skills.