Review of Two Studies on College Athlete Graduation Rates

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed two studies of college athletes' graduation rates to determine: (1) whether the methodologies used to produce the studies were adequate; and (2) the relevance of the studies to proposed legislation that would require colleges to graduate at least 75 percent of their scholarship athletes within 5 years in order for contributions to their athletic departments to qualify as tax deductible.