Is there really an "exceptional athlete like Nicky Anosike" for every athlete who struggles to balance athletics and academics? I'd like to see that study.

I think a more valid question is, Why should a student-athlete like Cline have to make a choice between his preferred course of study and college athletics? While clearly some "exceptional" athletes can manage both, shouldn't the "average" be able to do it?

Marta also makes the leap from majors being "easy" to having no value. The value is for students who wish to pursue careers in a particular field. It is highly unlikely that 58% of USC's football players who majored in sociology were really interested in that field. While students certainly have choices, the system should not force them to choose between academics and athletics when both should be achievable.

It seems to me that student athletes should be held to the same accountability as any person over the age of 18. No matter who they are or what they do they have a choice.

Yes, student loans are horrible and I will be paying mine back for a very long time, but it isn't the end of the world. If athletes are more interested in athletics than academics then that is a personal choice. As was said earlier, balancing athletics and academics has been done in the past and will be done so in the future provided an athlete makes a choice to do so.

I argue it is less about how schools are "leading" their athletes to choose a particular path of education and more about an adult student-athlete making a choice of how to balance their time. You have to hold people accountable for their own actions.

I have seen clustering first hand while I participated in Division 1 collegiate athletics. So yes clustering happens, and it is not always a bad thing. The good thing about clustering is that you are able to talk to other players or older people in your major to see which professor is good or bad, easy or hard, whether or not class attendance is required (you should be in class daily), if the professor likes/dislikes athletes, and etc. It gives you a glimpse of the classroom before you sign up for the class. Clustering allows you to create a network while you are in school. It also allows you and teammates to create a bond since you took the same classes and went through the same struggles on the athletic venue.
The bad thing is that you may be steered into a clustered major from administration because of the class times. This was the case at our institution, it was frowned upon if you had to miss weights, meetings, or if you had to leave early from an football. We had to schedule around football, so if there was a class that was only offered once a year and it was during football practice, then your class may be postponed, the professor may be called to see about individual study, or the worse case scenario could be that you are steered into another major that normally had other athletes. The academic advisor knew what majors to try and get people not to get into since he knew when the classes were offered, and what professors were easy to work with.

I am curious to know why certain coaches, the responsible party for recruiting said athletes, aren't being dragged through the mud. They are the ones who are doing the student a disservice. It???s not realistic to expect a student who has a composite ACT score of 15 to perform as well as a student who has a 32. The system is failing these young men and women and it???s unfair to shoulder the blame on anyone let alone academic support. It???s like giving a BCS team DIII talent and expecting them to win a national title.

The day an academic advisor/counselor has a say in the admission of questionable student athletes is when academia can continue this argument. I am sure there are schools where academic support staff personnel funnel athletes, mostly likely those in revenue sports, into ???less-demanding??? majors, however that is the minority in this profession and its disheartening to hear the same accusations from those that are 30,000 feet above the action.

Who gets penalized with subpar APR scores the institution or the coach? It???s interesting how APR is falling under the academic support umbrella yet coaches are the one???s recruiting these athletes.

As an academic counselor in athletics, I found it even more intresting that while they discussed clustering amoung student-athletes, they neglected to add that it also happens in the regular student population. Every school has those "easy classes" that every student seems to take. Why did they not take instituions to task over that? I remember taking a dance class in college because it was an easy A. Is someone going to call my insitution and lambast them on the cover of USA Today? Sadly though, as advisors, we often find out about the "easy" classes because a student-athlete was told about it from a regular student.