A Classroom Comeback
By Eugene McCormack, The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 7, 2006

Although thousands of athletes who left college early have returned during the past two decades, the numbers have recently spiked. Athletics officials attribute some of the growth to a new incentive from the National Collegiate Athletic Association that rewards teams when former athletes come back. Under the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate formula, which measures how well teams are performing in the classroom, teams with low scores can lose scholarships. But when former players return to complete their degrees, teams earn bonus points that can help them avoid such penalties. The incentive has spurred some colleges to reach out to former athletes as never before, offering free tuition, housing, and other assistance — often in exchange for part-time work in the athletics department.

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