In terms of athlete-graduation rates, NIU fits in towards the top of the Mid-Continent Conference and the conference, in turn, falls roughly in the middle of the national average.

According to numbers recently published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 3,340 freshman enrolled at NIU in the fall of 1984.

By Aug. of 1989, 48.4 percent had graduated. Of the 91 recruited athletes who enrolled at NIU in the fall of 1984, 48.4 percent also graduated five years later.

The graduation rate for the 20 freshman football players who signed on in 1984 was 55 percent, while the seven men’s basketball recruits had a 28.6 percent graduation rate five years later.

Female athletes at NIU graduated at a higher rate, 57.1 percent to 44.4 percent, than did male athletes. Sixty-three of the 91 recruited athletes in 1984 were male.

As a whole, the ten members of the Mid-Continent conference, including Northern Iowa which is leaving the league next year and Wright State, which is taking Northern Iowa’s place, graduated 36.9 percent of all freshman enrolled in the fall of 1984 five years later.

The graduation rate for athletes in the conference during the five-year span was 45.8 percent. Football players in the five Mid-Continent schools with football programs graduated at a 47.9 percent rate and men’s basketball players had a 33.2 percent graduation rate.

In comparison to the Mid-Continent, the Big-Ten Conference graduated 59.1 percent of all students, 58 percent of all athletes, 50 percent of all football players and 43.9 percent of men’s basketball players.

The Mid-American Athletic Conference had 46.6 percent of all its students graduate during the period, 54.4 percent of its athletes, 42.9 percent of its football players and 40 percent of its basketball players earn their degrees in the five years.

The overall graduation rate of all students in the colleges that responded to the survey during the period was 47.9 percent with athletes graduating at a higher rate than the general student population: 56.1 percent.

A significant difference in the graduation rate between public and private schools is evident in the survey’s numbers. Overall graduation rates at public schools was 42.8 percent while private institutions graduated 70.8 percent of their students. For athletes the difference was 78.8 to 45.8 percent in favor of private schools.