THE ECONOMICS OF PERSISTENCE - GRADUATION RATES OF ATHLETES AS LABOR-MARKET CHOICE

In this paper we analyze data for each Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) school on academic characteristics, athlet ic characteristics, and graduation rates. Three groups of athletes are studied: male football players, male basketball players, and female b asketball players. We find strong empirical evidence that traditional labor market opportunities unrelated to sports are significant explana tory variables of the persistence of athletes. In addition, we find su pport for the hypothesis that professional opportunities have a signif icant impact on the graduation rate of athletes. This impact is strong er in sports with higher expected financial returns from this form of nondegree employment.