Colleges and Universities
Are intercollegiate athletes more or less likely to graduate from college, compared to their classmates?
According to statistics reported in the 11/20/98 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, 57% of the athletes with NCAA level scholarships graduate from college compared to 56% of entering freshman overall. At individual colleges however, these rates can be quite different. The following are graduation rates for Division 1 NCAA colleges in the Pacific NW. Statistics are for students who started as freshman in 1991-92.
| Graduation Rates | All Students | All Athletes |
| Boise State U. | 20% | 41% |
| East. Washington U. | 45% | 32% |
| Gonzaga U. | 63% | 75% |
| Idaho State U. | 24% | 44% |
| Oregon State U. | 61% | 53% |
| Univ. of Idaho | 49% | 45% |
| Univ. of Oregon | 59% | 63% |
| *Univ. of Portland | 60% | 57% |
| Univ. of Washington | 70% | 64% |
| Washington State U. | 63% | 60% |
| Total U.S. | 56% | 57% |
The message here for athletes and non-athletes is that graduation or 'retention' rates vary widely among colleges. It is also important to realize that some of the smaller colleges see larger percentages of their athletes transferring to other colleges with larger athletic programs, and this has a negative impact on retention rates.
Big Bend Community College
- technical training for commercial pilots
If you have visited Moses Lake in Washington State, you might not realize that this community of 13,300 has several things you might not expect to find in a town of this size. The Grant County International Airport has the longest runway in the Northwest, 13,500 feet, and 350 days of clear weather per year. The airport has been used for many years as a pilot training facility by Japan Airlines (JAL) and Boeing.
Moses Lake also has Big Bend Community College which has one of the premier technical training programs for commercial pilots. The program has 25 aircraft available for training and the Grant County International Airport right next door. BBCC's commercial pilot program has provided training for all the major airlines, Alaska and Horizon Airlines in particular. There are currently 120 students in the program. This 30 year old program is considered one of the best in the country.
HOW VALUABLE ARE PRE-COLLEGE TEST PREPERATION COURSES?
Representatives from the College Board, providers of the SAT exam, and representatives of the major pre-college preparation companies have faced-off over the latest study released by the College Board. According to the study, students who re-took the SAT after being coached, only raised their verbal scores by eight points over un-coached students re-taking the same test. Mathematics scores were raised by 18 points for coached students compared to those without coaching. According to Wayne Camara of the College Board, "The findings are that coaching has a very small effect."
The study was conducted in 1995-96 among 4,200 students re-taking the SAT. Representatives from SAT coaching companies say that pre-college tests are 'coachable' and that the average student raises their score by 100 points combined when they re-take the test after coaching. They question the idea that the study was accurate in who was 'coached' or 'un-coached' as many 'un-coached' students may have attended free test-prep sessions provided by their schools.
The College Board responds by noting that un-coached, the average student raises their combined score by an average of 43 points, just by re-taking the SAT. With a maximum of 1600 combined points, this equals an increase of 2-3% in scores when the SAT is taken again. It is clear that all students should take advantage of any free coaching offered through their school or community.
Western Governor's University -
A Virtual Campus
The Western Governor's University offered courses from their virtual campus for the first time in Fall 1998. WGU offers virtual courses and degrees to students from 17 western states and Guam, including Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is possible to earn degrees from WGU, something other virtual universities may not be offering.
Between 5-7,000 visitors are using WGU's Web site each day. The Web site (www.wgu.edu) provides students with access to the majority of college courses and services. WGU has also formed an alliance with the Open University of Britain (www.open.ac.uk/), which currently provides video and Internet courses for over 200,000 students world-wide. Both institutions will work to offer their combined student populations with a wide variety of courses and available degrees.