Putting the student back in student athlete

When I walked into my Online Journalism class on the first day of this semester, I felt like I was entering Lilliputia, and I was one of the midgets. I stand about 6-feet tall and normally don't feel dwarved in most social settings. But this class was full of huge guys who are on the Cowboy football and basketball teams.

The other student-athlete in the class, a UW golf team member, is average size.

For the most part, the athletes have shown up for class regularly and are performing satisfactorily in their academic work. That amazes me, considering the time they must spend outside of the classroom on training, practice and travel.

I played two years of high school football until I realized there wasn't much of a future for a 130-pound quarterback. But I remember coming home after a full day of school followed by two tough hours of practice. After wolfing down as much food as my mother could cook, I would face another 1-3 hours of homework most evenings. Then, exhausted, I'd try to grab at least eight hours of snooze time.

But I can't imagine trying to do that at the college level, juggling a full-time course load with a grueling schedule of weightlifting, cardio workouts, full-contact practices and long road trips.

Apparently, a lot of athletes can't handle that strict regime either. Graduation rates for major men's sports are a big concern for the NCAA, and many universities face penalties and sanctions for not meeting graduation benchmarks.

Those penalties don't concern me much. I am more concerned in getting individual student-athletes their diplomas in their five years of scholarship time. Athletes with full-ride scholarships get a heck of a deal - free tuition and fees, room and board, and books. Even at an inexpensive state school such as UW, that can be worth over $100,000.

In exchange, student-athletes provide entertainment for thousands of alumni and fans, and generate millions of dollars in ticket sales and donations. Some sustain injuries that will bother them the rest of their lives.

But if they don't graduate, I think they are being cheated by the system.

My solution: allow athletes to take a part-time courseload during their seasons. For football players, that would mean they would only have to take nine credit hours (three classes) in fall. It would be more problematic for basketball, but I propose starting their season later in fall semester and running it longer into March in spring semester. Under my system, basketball players would only have to take nine hours in spring then.

To keep them on track toward graduating in five years, I propose that student-athletes get three hours of internship credit during fall for football or during spring for basketball.

Student-athletes in other sports would also be eligible for part-time courseloads and internship credit. The hard work they put in for practice and intercollegiate competitions should be worth internship credit. Every athlete would be allowed to take up to 12 internship hours over their college careers.

A lot of professors would say that student-athletes are only part-time students anyhow. But I think reforming academic standards would result in better grades, more learning and higher graduation rates.