At the NCAA Division III level, the assumption has always been that student-athletes are as academically successful as their non-athlete peers. More recently, however, that belief is being questioned.

This spring, the NCAA launched a voluntary data collection pilot that will compare graduation rates of athletes and non-athletes at Division III schools. Initial findings should be ready this fall, and division members will analyze the data at the 2012 NCAA convention.

"The problem is that we have not defined academic success in a uniform manner in Division III," says Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher. "An even more significant problem is that we haven't collected data on a division-wide basis or from a representative sample to really be able to support the assumption that student-athlete success is comparable to the rest of the student body."

Impetus for the pilot comes from two years of results from the College Sports Project. In its most recent study, the group found that Division III male student-athletes who entered college in 2006-07 had class ranks nine percentile points lower than other students at the end of their first year. Recruited male student-athletes also showed class ranks six percentile points lower than those not recruited. The difference between female athletes and non-athletes was "relatively modest."

Because the study primarily followed student-athletes from highly selective institutions, some NCAA Division III administrators feel academic reporting is unnecessary and not worth the time and cost. New legislation at the state and federal levels requiring more student data are already becoming a burden for many small schools.

However, if results of the NCAA pilot and further findings from the College Sports Project reveal a problem, a proposal to begin an academic reporting requirement in Division III could arise. "If the administrative burden is minimal and there seems to be a great amount of utility, it is a possibility," says Dutcher.