Second is the issue of why athletes don't attain degrees with the special assistance they receive. As an athlete, I will give you information from the inside looking out, not the outside looking in. I'm not going to debate that the graduation numbers for athletes are extremely below what they should be. It is obvious that the student athlete has often failed to graduate for various reasons, one of them being the option to leave early for a professional career. In the past several decades, society has become enamored of the success of athletics in large part because of the revenue collegiate sports brings in.
Collegiate sports are no longer amateur events.
The athletes have begun thinking about making money themselves, which often will mean a sacrifice of the degree. Turning professional should not be a reason for failing to finish school, but often it is. And often professional athletes live under a great deal of uncertainty and with pressure to help their family and friends by going pro. They often feel that they never really fit in at school because they are always stereotyped as the dumb jock. If you tell someone something enough times, they start to believe it.