No more than one in five athletes...

No more than one in five athletes graduate at colleges with major basketball programs, according to a federal study.

The study, reported in today’s New York Times, said that graduation rates among football players were not much better.

The General Accounting Office report, which has not been published, indicated that 35 of 97 schools surveyed for basketball had graduation rates of 0% to 20% among players, the newspaper reported. Only four schools had such comparable rates for the entire student body.

In football, 14 of 103 schools studied had graduation rates of 0% to 20%, the newspaper said. Only five of the same schools had such low rates for the rest of the students.

The schools in the study were not identified.