CFB free agency - Don't hate the player, hate the game

[Aldo]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/13556664/oregon-vernon-adams-florida-state-everett-golson-reignite-graduate-transfer-discussion 

I'm for the graduate transfer rule, but there should be something in place that forces/enforces the student to complete a graduate degree. 

[Army of Dad]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/13556664/oregon-vernon-adams-florida-state-everett-golson-reignite-graduate-transfer-discussion 

I'm for the graduate transfer rule, but there should be something in place that forces/enforces the student to complete a graduate degree. 

What happens if the grad transfer runs out of money when he has to actually pay for his own tuition? I'm sure it happens to lots of "regular" students. 

[Aldo]

What happens if the grad transfer runs out of money when he has to actually pay for his own tuition? I'm sure it happens to lots of "regular" students. 

Do they not get a scholarship? Also, according to this, only 24% complete their degree, so they're only useful to the team during football season.

[Army of Dad]

Do they not get a scholarship? Also, according to this, only 24% complete their degree, so they're only useful to the team during football season.

I would think most get a scholarship, but if they can't complete the graduate degree in one year then they would have to pay their own way after that. That might account for the 24% degree completion number. Any idea what the completion rate is for the "regular" students?

[Aldo]

couldn't find (via google) any hard numbers except for a study that said 66% in STEM and over 80% in MBA programs.

[Ben Gooding]

It's no surprise that the whole transfer issue is a joke. The "student-athlete" mantra is a joke in its own right (not all, but I'll safely say most). 

Go watch Undefeated on Netflix. Documentary about an inner city high school and their coach in Memphis. The team had a player (OT) on the team by the name of OC Brown. He had a solid amount of offers before his academics started to be an issue. He ended up signing at Southern Miss in their 2010 (?) class. Southern Miss required of him a 2.0 GPA (bare minimum eligibility) and a 16 on his ACT. I can only imagine these kind of GPA's and ACT scores are littered throughout rosters all over the country. Talking about diluting the meaning of a degree, whew. 

Auburn recently tried to rid an entire degree program because there were only just under 100 students majoring in it. They did a little research and noticed that the vast majority of those 100 students were football players. Needless to say they kept the program fully intact. 

Of course the UNC debacle and countless other academic fraud cases.

My point is universities must set their standards collectively and let the chips fall where they may. 100% of admission offices would have laughed at my 16 while dropping my decline of acceptance letter in the mail. This whole transfer debacle is another way to thread the needle for the sake of competitiveness, oh and money. 

[Censored by Laurie]

It's no surprise that the whole transfer issue is a joke. The "student-athlete" mantra is a joke in its own right (not all, but I'll safely say most). 

Go watch Undefeated on Netflix. Documentary about an inner city high school and their coach in Memphis. The team had a player (OT) on the team by the name of OC Brown. He had a solid amount of offers before his academics started to be an issue. He ended up signing at Southern Miss in their 2010 (?) class. Southern Miss required of him a 2.0 GPA (bare minimum eligibility) and a 16 on his ACT. I can only imagine these kind of GPA's and ACT scores are littered throughout rosters all over the country. Talking about diluting the meaning of a degree, whew. 

Auburn recently tried to rid an entire degree program because there were only just under 100 students majoring in it. They did a little research and noticed that the vast majority of those 100 students were football players. Needless to say they kept the program fully intact. 

Of course the UNC debacle and countless other academic fraud cases.

My point is universities must set their standards collectively and let the chips fall where they may. 100% of admission offices would have laughed at my 16 while dropping my decline of acceptance letter in the mail. This whole transfer debacle is another way to thread the needle for the sake of competitiveness, oh and money. 

man...almost makes you wonder what sort of influences and people would allow a crooked system like this to even exist, huh?