College Athletic’s Academic Black Market

The balance of a student’s performance on the field and in the classroom is a precarious one. Coaches, teammates and academic institutions themselves have created a culture in which college athletes are given a pass if poor grades threaten to keep them out of uniform.

According to former college basketball player Khalid McCaskill, the issue is far graver at major Division I institutions like UCLA than at smaller schools like Lehigh University, where not every athlete expects to make it to the pros.